The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated this weekend that it will not relinquish custody of the Argentine embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, until the Argentine Foreign Ministry designates a new country to protect the representation. The statement was made on Saturday (7) in an official note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reaffirmed on Sunday (8).
The reaffirmation occurred during a meeting between Lula and Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha, who is acting as interim ambassador during a mission by Minister Mauro Vieira in the Middle East, at the Palácio da Alvorada. The meeting lasted about two hours and discussed the tense situation in Caracas after the Maduro government revoked authorization for Brazil to guard the Argentine representation.
In the early hours of Friday (6) to Saturday (7), Chavista security forces surrounded the embassy where six opponents of Maduro are taking refuge. The siege of the embassy was ended this Sunday (8) after confirmation that the candidate who ran against Maduro in the July 28 election, Edmundo González, managed to reach Spain for political asylum.
At the meeting held on Sunday (8), Maria Laura da Rocha discussed with Lula what the government’s next steps should be in demanding the voting records that would confirm Maduro’s alleged victory in the presidential election with strong evidence of fraud. The president reaffirmed last Friday (6) that he does not recognize the reelection of his former ally, nor does the opposition, which claims to have proof that he would have won.
“In accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic Relations and Consular Relations, Brazil will remain in charge of the custody and defense of Argentine interests until the Argentine government indicates another State acceptable to the Venezuelan government to exercise the aforementioned functions,” said the Itamaraty last Saturday (7) after the siege by Maduro’s forces.
President Lula’s special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, said he was “shocked” by the attitude of Maduro’s forces, and stated that the decision is worrying. For him, the siege of the embassy under Brazilian guard was “extremely strange”. “A common feature of international law is the international protection of interests”, he said in an interview with GloboNews.
“This is not acceptable. I think this is a typically diplomatic matter. Of course it has political repercussions. The Foreign Ministry responded correctly and we deeply regret the situation,” he added.
On the other side, on the Argentine side and despite the disagreements between Lula and Milei, the country’s foreign ministry stated that it “appreciates Brazil’s commitment and responsibility in ensuring the custody of Argentine properties” in Venezuela.
In addition to the situation in Venezuela, Rocha and Lula discussed his trip to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly in the second half of the month. The details of the agenda, meetings and speeches are still being worked out, but it is already known that they should cost around R$8.5 million.
Itamaraty is expected to release details of the trip later this week.
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