MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

City of Buenos Aires declares Maduro “persona non grata”

“In the City of Buenos Aires we will not tolerate dictators,” Romero insisted

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been declared “persona non grata” by the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) for the alleged commission of serious human rights violations.

 The initiative was put forward by Legislators Claudio Romero and Emmanuel Ferrario of Propuesta Republicana (PRO) of former Mayor and President Mauricio Macri. The Frente de Izquierda (Leftwing Front) bloc abstained and the Kirchnerite Unión por la Patria bloc voted against the motion.

The PRO lawmakers had promoted the measure at the request of representatives from the Venezuelan diaspora in Argentina, which is believed to group some 220,000 emigrés.

Argentine Forum for the Defense of Democracy Secretary-General Elisa Trotta welcomed the decision and stressed that the crimes of autocrats like Maduro would not go unpunished.

The measure was adopted less than two months ahead of the July 28 elections in Venezuela where Maduro is feared to be orchestrating a maneuver to get once again reelected amid disenfranchised opposition leaders such as María Corina Machado and international observers banned from monitoring the process.

“The world is watching and will not allow to steal the will of the citizens that will be expressed in the ballot boxes next July 28,” highlighted Trotta who also pointed out that Venezuelans were in the streets supporting Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo González.

In the meantime, six opposition leaders staying at Argentina's Embassy in Caracas since March 26 were denied a safe-conduct to reach the airport and fly to the Argentine capital where they have already been granted asylum pursuant to the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum of 1954.

“In the City of Buenos Aires we will not tolerate dictators, people who come to violate human rights, people who do atrocities in their country in the name of a revolution that does not exist, people who use torture as a method of government,” Romero stated.