The regime of Nicolás Maduro is harassing the Argentine ambassador’s official residence in Caracas, where six activists close to the opposition leader María Corina Machado are taking refuge.
These activists are being persecuted by the tyranny of Maduro, who in recent weeks has intensified his rhetoric against Vente Venezuela and Machado, who has seen how several of her closest advisors were imprisoned or charged by Maduro’s Prosecutor’s Office through judicial trickery.
The Chavista regime's persecution of these activists is now threatening the Embassy of the Argentine Republic.
According to a statement from the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, the Maduro regime cut off the electricity to the ambassador’s official residence at a time when tensions between Javier Milei’s government and the Maduro dictatorship are at their highest.
“The Argentine Republic, rooted in its historical vocation to promote and safeguard fundamental human rights, and exercising its effective commitment in this regard, expresses its concern at the deterioration of the institutional situation and the acts of harassment and persecution directed against Venezuelan political figures,” reads the statement from the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela.
“With the support of the inviolability enshrined in Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, of which both nations, Argentina and Venezuela, are signatories, political leaders of the opposition have been taken in at the Official Residence of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas,” the text continues.
“In this sense, the Argentine Republic expresses its concern about the incident that occurred yesterday, which resulted in the interruption of power supply to the official residence in Caracas , and warns the Venezuelan government about "any deliberate action that endangers the safety of Argentine diplomatic personnel and Venezuelan citizens under protection , remembering the obligation of the receiving State to safeguard the facilities of the diplomatic mission against intrusions or damage and preserve its tranquility and dignity."
— Oficina del Presidente (@OPRArgentina) March 26, 2024
“Finally, President Javier Milei urges the socialist Nicolás Maduro to ensure the security and well-being of the Venezuelan people, as well as to call transparent, free, democratic and competitive elections, without constraints of any kind,” stated the Argentine Embassy.
Since President Javier Milei arrived at the Casa Rosada, the relationship between Buenos Aires and Caracas has been going through its most tense moment in years, with the Maduro regime accusing the Argentine Government of being “fascist” while the libertarian administration openly supports the democratic cause in the South American country.
In retaliation for the seizure of the Emtrasur plane to the United States, held in Ezeiza for months by order of Judge Federico Villena, the Maduro dictatorship prohibited Argentine planes from flying through Venezuelan airspace.
According to various press reports, the activists taking refuge in the Argentine Embassy are senior members of Vente Venezuela and close collaborators of Machado.
In fact, according to the newspaper La Nación, there are serious concerns about the physical well-being of those taking refuge, as they are being subjected to persecution by the Maduro dictatorship. On Monday, Maduro baselessly accused two alleged members of Vente Venezuela and Machado herself of orchestrating an assassination against him, accusations categorically rejected by the political group.
The report also comes at a politically delicate moment for Venezuela. The Venezuelan National Electoral Council, dominated by the Chavista regime, did not allow the registration of Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old academic with extensive experience who was chosen by Machado to be the candidate representing the opposition.
Although Yoris had no reason to be disqualified, the regime still did not allow her to participate.
Meanwhile, Machado, the prominent leader of the Venezuelan opposition, remains politically disqualified by the Maduro regime, which handpicked its adversaries ahead of the July 28 elections.
On Monday, regarding the chaotic electoral registration process controlled at will by the Chavista regime, Javier Milei's government joined its counterparts from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay to jointly express in a press release “its serious concern regarding the information linked to persistent impediments in the registration in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of presidential candidates before the National Electoral Council, less than 24 hours before the end of the established deadline.”
