| Siege of the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela | |||||||
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| Part of 2024 Venezuelan political crisis | |||||||
 Ambassador's residence in Venezuela | |||||||
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| Parties involved | |||||||
 Argentina |
 Venezuela | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Javier Milei Diana Mondino (until October 31st) Gerardo Werthein.svg){kind=small} Edmundo González María Corina Machado |
Nicolás Maduro Diosdado Cabello Yván Gil | ||||||
The siege of the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela is a ongoing siege to the Argentine Embassy and ambassador's residence in Caracas. Movement into and out of the compound was restricted between July 30 to September 1, on September 7–8, and from November 23 to present. The siege was ordered by the government of Nicolás Maduro and is part of the Venezuelan post-electoral crisis.
The events have received condemnation from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, who expressed solidarity with Argentina.
Background
Friction arose between Argentina's libertarian government and Venezuela's socialist government after Argentine president Javier Milei became a leader of those allegin that Maduro stole the July 2024 presidential election.
In March 2024, after Machado's campaign manager Magalli Meda was indicted for allegedly propagating destabilising political violence, she and five others sought refuge and political asylum at the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela and were permitted to stay at the Ambassador's Residence. Shortly after, electricity was cut to the building.
On July 28, 2024, presidential elections were held in Venezuela, to elect a new president for a constitutional term of 6 years. The presidential elections were neither free nor fair, it took place in a context in which the government of Nicolás Maduro controls all the powers of the State and represses the political opposition.
On the same day, the National Electoral Council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner with 51.95% of the votes, while Edmundo Gonzales would come in second with 43.18% of the votes. Both María Corina Machado and Edmundo González rejected the NEC results and claimed victory. González, in an act accompanied by Machado, said: “Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened... Our fight continues and we will not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected.” Meanwhile, Venezuelans opposed to Nicolás Maduro went out to protest in several localities of the country.
Sieges
On July 30, Pedro Urruchurtu, a political asylum seeker, reported a siege of the place. Since the embassy accepted six political dissidents linked to opposition leader María Corina Machado as asylum seekers, the embassy's electricity supply was cut off.
In August 2024, Venezuela’s top prosecutor (Tarek William Saab) began a criminal investigation against Venezuelan opposition leaders Edmundo González and María Corina Machado for calling on troops to oppose Maduro. On September 2, an arrest warrant was issued for González for the alleged crimes of "usurpation of functions, falsification of public documents, instigation to disobey the law, conspiracy and association". After the election, González had sought refuge secretly in the Dutch Embassy through September 5, after which he spent several days in the Spanish embassy in Caracas, was granted asylum, and left on a Spanish Armed Forces flight on September 7, 2024.
When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced his decision to "immediately and unilaterally" revoke Brazil's permission to guard the embassy, which it had held since August 1, "patrols by Venezuelan intelligence services and security forces surrounding the official building in Caracas" were again reported, this time in a formal complaint by the Argentine Foreign Ministry.
On September 8, 2024, shortly after presidential candidate Edmundo González arrived in Spain, electricity was restored and the second siege ended.
On November 23, 2024, Pedro Urruchurtu, a political asylum seeker at the embassy, reported shortly before 7:00 p.m. VET that hooded officers from the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions of the Bolivarian National Police Corps (DAET) and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service had appeared in the vicinity of the Argentine embassy in Caracas with long guns and had surrounded the diplomatic headquarters. After more than 5 hours of siege, Urruchurtu confirmed that the security agents, as part of their siege, had just cut off the electricity service to the ambassador's residence. He also confirmed that the agents had cut off access on the street, and that drones that “block the mobile signal” had flown over.
See also
References
- "Venezuela: Forces surround embassy sheltering opposition figures". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
- ^ "Venezuela revokes Brazil's custody of Argentine embassy housing Maduro opponents". The Guardian. 8 September 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
- Magramo, Mauricio Torres, Kathleen (27 March 2024). "Argentina accuses Venezuela of cutting power to its embassy in Caracas after hosting opposition leaders". CNN. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "Venezuela revokes Brazil's custody of diplomatic mission housing six Maduro opponents". NBC 6 South Florida. 7 September 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
- Criales, José Pablo (27 March 2024). "El Gobierno argentino acoge a seis opositores venezolanos en su Embajada de Caracas". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- "El Supremo de Venezuela convalida la victoria de Maduro entre críticas por su falta de independencia". 22 August 2024.
- "Venezuela's Election Was Deeply Flawed. Here's How". 31 July 2024.
- "Maduro regime doubles down on censorship and repression in lead-up to Venezuelan election - ICIJ". 24 July 2024.
- "La oposición de Venezuela asegura tener pruebas de su victoria ante Maduro, mientras miles protestan". Associated Press News. 29 July 2024.
- "Venezuela election, as it happened: Maduro declared winner, González claims victory". Associated Press News.
- "El enviado de Lula en Caracas intenta una mediación por los asilados en la Embajada: cortaron la luz y el agua". La Política Online (in Spanish).
- "El Gobierno argentino acoge a seis opositores venezolanos en su Embajada de Caracas". 27 March 2024.
- "Venezuela's top prosecutor announces criminal probe against opposition leaders González and Machado". AP News. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
- Sequera, Vivian; Armas, Mayela (2 September 2024). "Venezuela issues arrest warrant for opposition leader Gonzalez, AG says". Reuters. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- Rueda, Jorge; Goodman, Joshua; Wilson, Joseph (8 September 2024). "Opposition presidential candidate González flees Venezuela for asylum in Spain". Associated Press. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- "In diepste geheim bood Nederland onderdak aan oppositieleider Venezuela" [The Netherlands secretly offered shelter to Venezuelan opposition leader]. RTL Nederland (in Dutch). 8 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- "Edmundo González abandonó Venezuela tras solicitar asilo político en España" [Edmundo González left Venezuela after requesting political asylum in Spain]. El Diario de Caracas (in Spanish). 7 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- "Tensión en Caracas: Argentina advirtió a Venezuela por cualquier intento de intromisión en su Embajada". infobae (in European Spanish). 7 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- "Gobierno de Maduro cesa el asedio y restituye servicio eléctrico en Embajada de Argentina / Maduro government ceases siege and restores electricity service to the Embassy of Argentina". 8 September 2024.
Categories:
- 2024 controversies
- 2024 in international relations
- 21st century in Caracas
- July 2024 events in Venezuela
- August 2024 events in Venezuela
- September 2024 events in Venezuela
- November 2024 events in Venezuela
- Argentina–Venezuela relations
- 2020s sieges
- Attacks on diplomatic missions
- Attacks on government buildings and structures in Venezuela
- Attacks on buildings and structures in 2024
- Crisis in Venezuela