BUENOS AIRES.- Argentine diplomats expelled by the regime Venezuela They arrived in Buenos Aires this Saturday, after their country recognized the opposition Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the winner of the elections.
“We had to dismantle a life in three days,” said the Argentine chargé d’affaires of the embassy in Venezuela, Andrés Mangiarotti, to several media outlets on Saturday upon arriving at the Buenos Aires airport.
Along with 13 other people, Mangiarotti embarked on a 72-hour journey on Thursday to return to his country after being expelled by Maduro on Monday.
The diplomat reported that they suffered power cuts at the embassy and that “there was a police presence at night, who were in cars with hooded personnel and with weapons” outside, which generated fear in six opposition members who had taken refuge in the diplomatic legation since March.
“On Monday night and Tuesday, police cars arrived with hooded people and we thought the worst could happen, especially the asylum seekers, who are in this condition because they fear for their lives,” said Mangiarotti.
Boric receives diplomats
The Chilean diplomatic delegation had to leave Venezuela. Upon arrival in Santiago, they held a meeting with the country’s president, Gabriel Boric.
“I received the chancellor at La Moneda @AlbertoKlaveren and the Chilean ambassador to Venezuela, Jaime Gazmuri, who arrived today in our country with the diplomatic staff after the sudden and unjustified expulsion. We maintain our position: We do not recognize Maduro’s proclaimed victory and we will not validate any result that is not verified by independent international organizations. We also call for full respect for the human rights of protesters in Venezuela and an end to arbitrary detentions and violence,” the Head of State reported on his X account.
Venezuela has expelled diplomats from other countries in the region who demanded that the Maduro regime show the minutes of the vote count or who, as in the case of Argentina, directly pointed out fraud and recognized opposition candidate González Urrutia as the winner of the presidential elections held on July 28.
After repeated calls for transparency, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama and the United States recognized the opposition’s victory on Friday. Peru had been the first to recognize González Urrutia as the winner on Tuesday. The United States said there was “overwhelming evidence” certifying the opposition as the winner of the vote.
Brazil, for its part, took charge of the custody and temporary representation of the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela, as well as the security of the opposition members who are there.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner with 52% of the votes, above the 43% attributed to González Urrutia, representative of the disqualified opposition leader, María Corina Machado. The detailed results were not presented.
Source: With information from AFP/Editorial Staff
