Brazil will maintain custody of the Argentine embassy

Brazil reported this Saturday that it will maintain custody of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas until the government of Javier Milei assigns the protection of its diplomatic headquarters to another country, after the administration of Nicolás Maduro will revoke the authorization which had been granted at the beginning of August.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry expressed surprise at the revocation. It said it would continue “with the protection and defense of Argentine interests until Argentina designates another State acceptable” to Maduro’s administration.

In one Press releaseBrazil recalled “the inviolability, under the terms of the Vienna Convention, of the facilities of the Argentine diplomatic mission, which currently houses six Venezuelan asylum seekers, as well as its assets and archives.”

According to a statement from the Venezuelan government, they were “forced” to make the decision due to alleged evidence that the facilities are being used to plan “terrorist activities and assassination attempts” against Maduro and Delcy Rodríguez.

The measure was announced after complaints made by the opposition asylum seekers who, since Friday night, claimed that several police officers surrounded and besieged the residence of the Argentine Embassy in the Venezuelan capital.

When an embassy is besieged, as is the case with the Argentine embassy in Caracas, it is a serious violation of international law, specifically the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This convention establishes that embassies are inviolable. pic.twitter.com/lAq8pNhDEU

— Omar Gonzalez Moreno (@omargonzalez6) September 7, 2024

What are the functions of the Brazilian delegation in Venezuela?

Since August, Brazil has been responsible for safeguarding the diplomatic missions of Argentina and Peru in Venezuela, as well as representing their interests and citizens in the Caribbean country, following the expulsion of members of both delegations, after rejecting the proclamation of Maduro as the winner of the presidential elections on July 28.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has not recognised either Maduro’s victory or that of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, the latter backed by part of the international community, and has insisted on the publication of the electoral records.

“I think Maduro’s behavior is disappointing… As president, he should prove that he was the favorite of the Venezuelan people, but he is not doing so,” Lula said Friday in an interview with a local radio station.