MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Power outages hit Argentine Embassy in Caracas after granting asylum to opposition leaders

Milei's administration urged Maduro to look after the wellbeing of the diplomatic mission and the people protected therein

The Government of President Javier Milei denounced the power outage at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas after the Libertarian administration granted asylum to a group of Venezuelan nationals chased by the Nicolás Maduro regime.

Milei's diplomatic corps also urged Maduro to “ensure the security and welfare of the Venezuelan people, as well as to call for transparent, free, democratic and competitive elections,” regarding the disenfranchisement until 2036 of main opposition leader María Corina Machado and the irregular circumstances under which her PUD alliance was unable to register Corina Yoris as a candidate for the July 28 presidential polls.

The Argentine Government said that the Embassy in Caracas suffered a power outage after it granted asylum to opposition political leaders hours before the closing of the registration of candidacies.

“The Argentine Republic expresses its concern over the incident that occurred yesterday, which resulted in the interruption of the electricity supply at the official residence in Caracas, and warns the Venezuelan government against any deliberate action that endangers the safety of Argentine diplomatic personnel and Venezuelan citizens under protection,” reads a statement from the presidential office (OPRA) which also recalled “the obligation of the receiving State to safeguard the facilities of the diplomatic mission against intrusions or damages.”

The OPRA also underlined that Milei's administration had granted asylum to the opposition leaders under the protection of “the inviolability enshrined” in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, “of which both nations, Argentina and Venezuela, are signatories.”

“Argentina, rooted in its historic 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 political figures in Venezuela,” the document also noted.

Colombia and Brazil, whose presidents are on good terms with Maduro, expressed on Tuesday their “concern” for the way the Venezuelan electoral process was going on, with several opposition leaders arrested on attempted murder charges, in addition to the de facto outlawing of the PUD.

In this scenario, Zulia Governor and leader of Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), Manuel Rosales, who once took on the late Hugo Chávez for the presidency, became the most prominent opposition candidate for July 28, although Machado and other anti-Maduro fronts are unwilling to support him.