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U.S. assumed “temporary custody” of Venezuelan diplomatic headquarters

U.S. assumed "temporary custody" of Venezuelan diplomatic headquarters

February 10 |

The United States government assumed “temporary custody” of Venezuela’s diplomatic headquarters in that country on February 6 and will have under its control the real estate and assets until the Venezuelan mission “resumes operations”, confirmed a US State Department spokesperson.

“This action is consistent with the Department’s authorities under the Foreign Missions Act and with U.S. obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to ‘respect and protect’ the facilities and property of a diplomatic mission that has been suspended,” a State Department spokesperson responded to Voice of America.

The spokesperson recalled that the Venezuelan embassy in the United States announced the closure of the bilateral mission on January 5 of this year, the date on which Carlos Vecchio ceased to act as diplomatic representative of the interim government, after Parliament of 2015 decided to dissolve the interim that was presided by Juan Guaidó.

The U.S. official reiterated that the United States continues to recognize the 2015 Parliament as the “last” democratically elected institution left in Venezuela.

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The opposition-majority Parliament, which for the third consecutive time extended its mandate, left in office a five-member Council of Administration and Protection of Assets, a body competent to protect all Venezuelan goods or assets abroad.

One of the members of the Council is Fernando Blasi, who was appointed as representative of the 2015 Parliament in the United States. At the moment it is not clear how he will exercise his functions in view of the taking of custody of the diplomatic offices in the United States.

However, Dinorah Figuera, president of the 2015 Parliament clarified that the action of the US government was “done in a coordinated manner” with Blasi, who, she said, “coordinated the whole process with the State Department”.

“It was not a surprise procedure. We were all officially informed (…) it was what corresponded according to the Vienna Convention. There was presence of members of the mission in the procedure”, states a press release of the NA.

Figuera denied that there were people working in the diplomatic offices and that they were not allowed to enter, as was reported by some media.

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Neither the government nor the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry have reacted.

Venezuela has been going through a complex institutional crisis since 2019 when, arguing that the 2018 elections, in which President Nicolás Maduro was reelected were “fraudulent”, Guaidó, was sworn in as interim president of Venezuela and was recognized by dozens of countries that imposed sanctions and supported the strategy of “asset protection” abroad, but in practice, Maduro never ceased to exercise power.

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