Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentine Embassy in Caracas tonight, where six campaign advisers of the main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, are sheltering. On other occasions, the authorities had cut off the electricity and displayed a threatening attitude in front of the diplomatic headquarters, but they had never deployed an operation of this size. The Argentine security minister, Patricia Bullrich, has said in statements to the media that the Sebin, the Venezuelan secret service, is surrounding the building “with the aim of entering and violating all international norms.”
“We are dismayed by what is happening, the possible incursion and takeover of the Argentine embassy, which is currently flying the flag of Brazil. (…). This is a call to the entire international community, to all Venezuelans, to resist this brutality of the absolutely authoritarian and dictatorial regime of Maduro. We Argentines are absolutely determined not to allow our embassy to be taken away or interfered with,” said Bullrich.
The refugees themselves were the first to raise the alarm. Pedro Urruchurtu, international coordinator of Vente Venezuela – Machado’s party – was the first to report the situation through his account on the social network X after 8 pm on Friday. “Sebin and DAET patrols, together with hooded and armed officials, surrounded and besieged the Argentine Residence in Caracas,” wrote Urruchurtu. The officials also cut off the electricity supply to the diplomatic headquarters, as on previous occasions. Three hours after the first message, Urruchurtu warned of the arrival of more police.
In addition to Urruchurtu, the group also includes Magalli Meda, head of the presidential campaign and Machado’s right-hand woman; Claudia Macero, Vente’s communications coordinator; Omar González, former deputy; Humberto Villalobos, electoral coordinator of the command; and former minister Fernando Martínez Mottola, advisor. All of them have been important strategists in the opposition’s campaign despite being incarcerated.
Brazil took over custody of the Argentine embassy in Caracas on August 1, when relations between the governments of Nicolás Maduro and Javier Milei broke down and the expulsion of all diplomatic personnel was ordered. The six refugees were about to be left in limbo, at the mercy of the Chavista justice system that accuses them of terrorism, when Lula Da Silva intervened. It was a time when there were greater expectations that the efforts of the leftist powers of Latin America — Brazil, Colombia and Mexico — could push for a political negotiation to resolve the crisis unleashed in Venezuela after the questioned proclamation of Maduro without having presented evidence of the results.
President Lula insisted on Friday, once again, that Maduro must prove that he won the elections. “I think Maduro’s behavior is disappointing,” Lula said in a radio interview. The siege by security forces comes just after Javier Milei asked the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant “against Maduro and other leaders of the regime,” in light of the investigation being conducted by that court and the worsening of the human rights situation in Venezuela after the elections. Argentina had withdrawn from the ICC complaint in 2021, during the government of Alberto Fernández. This Friday, Uruguay also joined the case investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
This Friday, thirty former presidents of Latin America and Spain also submitted a letter to The Hague in which they asked prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants against Maduro and the number two of Chavismo, Diosdado Cabello, recently appointed Minister of the Interior and Justice. Among the signatories are Felipe González, José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy; as well as the Colombians Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque; the Argentine Mauricio Macri; the Mexican Vicente Fox or the Bolivian Carlos Mesa.
#Venezuelan #security #forces #surround #Argentine #Embassy #rising #tension
