Concept in Definition ABC

The word reprisal We use it in our language with two senses, on the one hand, when an individual provokes another an offense, a grievance, by way of revenge for some negative situation or fact in which he involved, or simply does it for the personal satisfaction that comes from bothering a certain person, that will be considered as a reprisal.

To inflict injury on another in revenge for damage previously received

“For having yelled at the teacher, Juan, he received retaliation from her that left him without recess.”

International relations: economic or political sanction that one country applies to another as a result of an abuse or attack

And on the other hand, the word retaliation is usually used at the request of the international relations between countries to designate that measure loaded with severity that a state assumes against a peer, as a consequence and in response to a mistreatment or unfavorable treatment that it has received on its part.

“In retaliation for not having complied with the payment of some bonds, the North American justice keeps the Argentine vessel popularly known as Fragata Libertad detained.

.”

Retaliation will always constitute a response of the sanction type, that is, the action that someone decides to adopt as a result of feeling attacked or aggrieved by another, generally, without a cause, then, that retaliation that develops and that can involve various actions, aims to satisfy the desire to chastise or revenge, responding with some action similar to the received.

On the other hand, with regard to international rightIf a state receives harmful treatment from another, it can retaliate, such action being absolutely legitimate, for example applying economic or political sanctions.

International organizations are also trained in this regard, and then a measure will be authorized exemplary against the state that has acted to harm another, especially if it is in a situation of harmony and coexistence.

There are different kinds of reprisals that are usually taken at the international level, such is the case of: rupture of diplomatic relations between the countries in conflict, economic or commercial embargo, among others.

One of the most emblematic cases of trade embargo is the one imposed by the United States on the island of Cuba after the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro, who among other measures expropriated properties from citizens Americans.

At present, in Latin America, there is a very opinionated case in these times, the crisis that Venezuela is experiencing as a consequence of the government repression of the opposition, and the decision of its president Nicolás Maduro to convene a Constituent Assembly, which assumes the legislative power and dissolve parliament.

With the mission of reversing this situation and stopping the advance against the democracy in Venezuela it is that neighboring countries took their support from him and took some diplomatic measures in retaliation for those acts.

Without a doubt, if we review the synonyms that this term admits, we find one that boasts a hyper popular use in our language, the one for revenge.

Revenge is precisely the response loaded with offense and damage that will be given to someone in return for an aggression or a bad action suffered in a timely manner.

Likewise, as with retaliation, revenge does not present a mission of repairing the damage, far from it, but what both actions seek is to achieve bothering and attacking the other who at the time attacked us or seriously annoyed us with their actions.

And also in both acts, retaliation and revenge, whoever perpetrates them, presents a sensation of pleasure and satisfaction when carrying out the act, because really the anger towards the other is immense and it is enjoyed hurting him.

For example, the idea is that whoever corresponds suffers in the same way that we suffer for what he did to us, that he took from us, among other alternatives.

Use in Roman law

The idea of ​​retaliation, of doing wrong, or paying in the same coin to the one who has harmed us is not something of today but it is a concept that goes back many centuries ago, more precisely in the Empire Roman.

Because at the behest of Roman Law, retaliation turned out to be a right that the affected party held due to the violation of any right by a third party, to obtain as a guarantee of the compensation, something that belongs to him.

Meanwhile, the term that opposes retaliation is that of forgiveness.

The act of forgiveness will imply that someone forgives another for the offense or mistreatment that they have been subjected to at a certain moment.

Retaliation Issues