Venezuela revoked the authorization it had given to Brazil to operate the Argentine embassy in Caracas after the Maduro government expelled Argentine diplomatic personnel in August. Currently inside the compound are six Venezuelan opposition leaders who requested political asylum.
Venezuelan Foreign Ministry Yvan Pinto said his country was “forced” into making the decision due to what he called “planning of terrorist attacks and magnicide attempts” against President Nicolás Maduro and Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry condemned the decision and said that “Venezuelan intelligence services and security forces” were surrounding the official residence in Caracas.”
Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli, one of the opposition leaders in the compound, posted images of security agents surrounding the building.
“As of 11:15 a.m. Saturday, September 7, the siege of the Argentine residence in Caracas, protected by Brazil, continues. More and more presence of hooded officers. They have closed the street to vehicles. We still have no power,” he wrote on X.
Brazil took over the building after Venezuela broke off relations with Argentina following statements made by the Milei administration that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia had won July 28’s elections and accused Maduro of committing fraud.
Right-wing leaders like Javier Milei are not the only ones who have contested the elections that Maduro claims to have won despite offering no evidence. Brazilian President Lula Da Silva called Maduro’s government an “authoritarian and unpleasant regime” in August. On Friday, he urged Maduro to prove he had won the elections and called the behavior of his Venezuelan counterpart “disappointing.”
Adriana Flores Márquez, a representative in Argentina of opposition leader María Corina Machado, thanked Milei and Argentine Security Ministry Patricia Bullrich. “Their commitment to our cause gives us strength to continue,” she wrote on X.