Six opposition politicians have sought asylum at the Argentine embassy in Caracas and they are said to have now been surrounded by police. Electricity and water to the embassy must have been turned off:
“They have closed the road outside the embassy to traffic and we are still without electricity,” writes opposition politician Omar Gonzalez Moreno on X.
After the presidential election in Venezuela in July, both incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition claimed to have won the election. The opposition also claimed that electoral fraud had occurred.
Want Maduro arrested
Several opposition politicians are said to have lived in hiding since the election. The country’s prosecution also accuses them of crimes.
Argentina’s president accuses Maduro of election fraud. The country yesterday called on the International Criminal Court to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Protection revoked
According to the Venezuelan newspaper Clarin Venezuela prepares to storm the embassy.
The Argentine embassy has been under the protection of Brazil due to the tangled relationship between Argentina and Venezuela, but now Venezuela has revoked Brazil’s protection with immediate effect.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina says that “any attempt to kidnap asylum seekers at the embassy will be condemned by the international community. Actions like these reinforce the belief that human rights are not respected in Venezuela”.