The Venezuelan government, whose brutal repression of dissent is shaking its Latin American allies, threatened to persecute opposition campaign workers who have taken refuge in the Argentine embassy for months.
Dozens of agents of President Nicolás Maduro were stationed outside the embassy in Caracas on Friday night, although they had not attempted to enter by Saturday morning. Access to the road was blocked by police vehicles and there was no electricity.according to social media posts by opposition workers based at the Argentine mission.
The standoff is raising tensions on Latin America’s left, where longtime Maduro allies, including the presidents of Brazil and Colombia,have been trying unsuccessfully to curb their authoritarian tendencies.
Six collaborators of opposition leader María Corina Machado have been sheltering in the Argentine embassy since March. They are currently under the protection of the Brazilian government through an agreement with Argentina, whose staff was expelled from the country after the elections..
The Argentine embassy is housing people suspected of terrorist acts and assassination plans against Maduro and Vice President Delcy RodríguezVenezuela’s Information Ministry said in a statement. Brazil’s permission to oversee the Argentine mission has been revoked, the agency said.
Venezuela’s president has jailed hundreds of dissidents and protesters following a July 28 vote in which he declared himself the winner despite evidence to the contrary. The regime has also attempted to detain opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González..
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said it will maintain custody of the embassy “and the defense of Argentine interests” until the Argentine government designates another state to intervene. Argentina said the situation shows that “In Maduro’s Venezuela, the fundamental rights of human beings are not respected”.
A Brazilian diplomatic official said On Saturday, the government is negotiating with Venezuela and will not abandon the Argentine mission.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has long had close ties to Venezuela’s socialist regime, has reiterated his government’s refusal to recognise Maduro as the winner of the July 28 election and has called for the full record of the election to be published. Argentine President Javier Milei, the libertarian leader who regularly exchanges public criticism with Lulapraised Brazil’s decision to intervene and try to defuse the conflict after the elections.
Opposition campaign manager Magalli Meda, Machado’s advisors Pedro Urruchurtu and Claudia Maceroand three others sought refuge in the Argentine embassy six months ago after Maduro’s public prosecutor ordered their arrest for alleged involvement in a plot to destabilize Venezuela’s government.
