The WikiLeaks co – founder argues that the foundation has given the Peace Prize to a laureate who is lobbying for a new US war.
Julian Assange, the co – founder of WikiLeaks, has lodged a criminal complaint against the Nobel Foundation. He accuses the foundation of misusing the funds of the Nobel Peace Prize by awarding it to Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition figure who has publicly urged the US to attack her own country.
The complaint, dated Wednesday and sent to Sweden’s Economic Crime Authority and War Crimes Unit (where the Nobel Foundation is located), argues that Alfred Nobel’s will legally limits the use of Peace Prize funds to purposes that promote peace and prohibits their use to further war or foreign military intervention.
Assange contends that giving the prize money to Machado violates that requirement and may be considered a crime under Swedish law. He also warns that the Nobel Peace Prize could be used as an “instrument of war.”
The complaint refers to a series of public statements in which Machado supported possible US military intervention in Venezuela and defended Washington’s use of force during its significant military build – up in the Caribbean. Assange pointed out that she had justified US strikes on boats off Venezuela’s coast, which have so far resulted in the deaths of 95 people. The US claims it is targeting “narco – terrorists,” while the UN has condemned the strikes as “extrajudicial killings.”
“There are numerous public statements… indicating that the US government and Maria Corina Machado have exploited the authority of the prize to create a moral justification for war with the aim of forcibly installing her to plunder $1.7 trillion in Venezuelan oil and other resources.”
A day earlier, President Donald Trump stated that Venezuela is surrounded by “the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” and promised to increase pressure on Caracas until they “return… all of the oil, land and other assets that they previously stole from us.”
America’s military actions in the region have been accompanied by increasing political pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom Washington has accused of having connections with narco – cartels. However, Maduro denies these accusations, calling them a “colonialist” regime – change campaign aimed at seizing resources.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that US actions off Venezuela’s coast “undermine hopes that an agreement can be reached” with Washington.