Brazil assumes Argentine representation in Venezuela after the departure of its diplomats

Brazil will take over custody of the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela and, therefore, of the six opponents of the Government of Nicolás Maduro who have been seeking asylum in that diplomatic headquarters since March, starting this Thursday, the date on which the representatives of Buenos Aires in Caracas will leave the country, official sources reported.

“Today, Argentine diplomatic and consular officials and defense attachés who worked at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas will leave the country as a result of the summons of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela made on July 29,” the Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

For his part, Argentine President Javier Milei “enormously” thanked Brazil for the gesture, a country governed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with whom the libertarian maintains a distant personal relationship due to ideological issues.

In a message posted on his social media account X, the ultra-liberal politician highlighted the “ties of friendship” between his country and Brazil, which “are very strong and historic,” and expressed his conviction that he will “soon” reopen his embassy “in a free and democratic Venezuela.”

Demand of Venezuela

The Maduro government on Monday demanded that Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay “immediately withdraw their representatives from Venezuelan territory,” in rejection of their “interventionist actions and statements” regarding the presidential elections held on July 28, in which, according to official results from the National Electoral Council (CNE), the president was re-elected.

In the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Argentina expressed its gratitude for the “generosity” of the Brazilian government, which, according to official information, will take charge of the custody of the premises of the Argentine mission in Caracas, including the embassy and official residence, its assets and archives, as well as “the protection of its interests and the interests of Argentine nationals in Venezuelan territory.”

“The custody of Argentine diplomatic missions involves political asylum seekers from the Venezuelan opposition,” who have been under protection at the Argentine residence in Caracas since March 20 and were unable to leave the country with the embassy staff, according to the Foreign Ministry, “due to the failure of the Venezuelan government to comply with the Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum.”

Argentine occupation

In the days following the elections held in Venezuela, the results of which were denounced by the opposition and by part of the international community, Milei’s government had expressed its concern for the safety of the six opposition politicians, to whom it granted asylum status at the end of March and for whom it was negotiating a safe-conduct pass, which it did not obtain.

According to the Argentine government, the diplomatic headquarters has been subject to “harassment” by local agents in recent hours.

Sources from the Foreign Ministry had informed EFE the day before that the Argentine diplomats present in Caracas would leave Venezuela this Thursday for Europe, with the idea of ​​arriving in Buenos Aires this Saturday from Madrid.

Relations between Argentina and Venezuela – which were close during the mandates of Peronists Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) – have worsened since Milei, who has had serious disagreements with Maduro, arrived at the Casa Rosada last December.

Brasilia / EFE