In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Latin & South America

13 Feb

[Ariel Costa holds a doctorate in public international law and has worked with universities and research institutions across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The author lives in the US on a temporary research visa. They are writing under a pseudonym because they are concerned this post will subject them to arrest or removal proceedings.] On January 3, US forces captured Venezuela’s...

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03 Feb

[Thairi Moya Sánchez (PhD) is a full-time professor of public international law at Complutense University of Madrid] Over recent months, the Venezuela file has moved into an accelerated escalation: international airlines suspended or curtailed operations amid official safety advisories and mounting regional military risk; Washington announced coercive maritime measures against sanctioned oil shipments; and, on 3 January 2026, U.S. forces conducted...

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02 Feb

[Diana Kearney is a former Visiting Instructor of Clinical Law at Cardozo Law School Human Rights & Atrocity Prevention Clinic] The Trump administration’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and subsequent announcement that the U.S. intends to run the nation is the administration’s most shocking move to date– a tall order for a President that has generated a steady torrent of...

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02 Feb

[Efrén Ismael Sifontes Torres is an Ayudante de Segunda in international law courses and a member of the Observatory of International Humanitarian Law at the University of Buenos Aires School of Law] As a Venezuelan and an international lawyer, it took me some time to pause and reflect on the repercussions of the events that have shaken, and continue to shake,...

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14 Jan

[Federico Jarast is Jefe de Trabajos Prácticos at Buenos Aires University School of Law. He has served as Legal Adviser at the General Direction of Legal Affairs of the Argentine Presidency and worked as an Associate at Guglielmino Derecho Internacional.] In less than a week, 2026 has proved that it will spare no efforts in shaking the foundations of international law. For...

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14 Jan

[Davit Khachatryan is an international law expert and lecturer specializing in public international law, alternative dispute resolution, investment law, international humanitarian law, and security] A short video clip circulating online appears to show a US strike on a small vessel at sea, followed by imagery that has been read as suggesting that there were survivors in the water. The clip has...

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06 Jan

[Milena Sterio is James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law at Cleveland State University College of Law and Managing Director of the Public International Law and Policy Group] The United States’ attack on Venezuela, as well as the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, have no justification in international law or international relations. This post will first discuss...

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18 Dec

[Dr Chiara Redaelli is a research fellow at the University of Geneva, IHL and ICL expert with the International Development Law Organization Ukraine Office and co-editor in chief of the on the Use of Force and International Law] From Drug Boats to Battlefields? The United States’ Classification of the “War on Drugs” In September 2025, the Trump administration began describing U.S. counter-narcotics...

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18 Dec

[Dr Chiara Redaelli is a research fellow at the University of Geneva, IHL and ICL expert with the International Development Law Organization Ukraine Office and co-editor in chief of the on the Use of Force and International Law] From Drug Boats to Battlefields? The United States’ Case for Using Force against Cartels Since early September 2025, the United States has carried out...

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28 Oct

[Erick Guapizaca Jiménez is an S.J.D. candidate at the University of Michigan Law School, a lecturer at the Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, and an Assistant Editor with Opinio Juris]  Jorge Icaza, a twentieth-century Ecuadorian author, shocks readers with his raw novel Huasipungo. In this Indigenist work, he portrays the daily life of Indigenous individuals trapped in a system of a form of...

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20 Oct

[Ezequiel Podjarny is an Argentine professional working as a Legal and Policy Fellow at the Human Rights Foundation. He holds an MA in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute and an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics] When revising the literature and jurisprudence on the subject of the personal immunity of foreign officials, the opinion of...

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07 Oct

[Moises A. Montiel Mogollon is a professor of international law at the Centro de Investigaciones Docentes y Económicas (CIDE)] As a result of the unilateral military buildup in the southern Caribbean by the United States with the alleged goal of combatting drug trafficking, the North-American nation has conducted a series of militarized operations resulting in the death of presumptively Venezuelan nationals...

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