Link to Original Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c207958pp9qo
The Argentine Embassy in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas has been surrounded by police forces this past weekend, with word coming out of the embassy sheltering six Venezuelan politicians in opposition to the newly elected President of Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro. Images have come out from the members of said Venezuelan political opposition of Venezuelan intelligence and police forces forming a perimeter around the embassy complex. The embassy has been under the diplomatic protection of the Brazilian government in recent months, as Argentinian-Venezuelan relations have broken down over legitimacy disputes of the last Venezuelan elections. This has culminated as the Venezuelan government has revoked Brazilian custody of the embassy complex, whilst calls remain strong from several countries for the Venezuelan government to publish voting data of the prior elections.
The opposition coalition, meanwhile, has released its own charters of voting data, indicating its candidate, Edmundo González won the election over the incumbent President Maduro. A continued breakdown of relations between the Argentine and Venezuelan government is ongoing, as the Argentine Foreign Ministry has issued warrants for the arrest of President Maduro and other senior officials in the International Criminal Court. The Brazilian remains resolute that it will represent Argentine affairs in Venezuela until another country takes up the cause.
This could not bode well for the region as a continued breakdown of relations on several sides has painted Venezuela as a black sheep in its own continent, receiving backlash from the likes of the Argentine, Brazilian, Chilean, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan governments publicly. The foreign affairs ministry of Chile has come out in recent days criticizing the Venezuelan government going on to remark that it has acted “without justification”, and that it showed “serious disregard” for common international conventions. I believe that relations could continue to sour in the oncoming months, further pressuring all sides to find a solution, and hopefully without bloodshed or violent action needing to be taken. That being said, I expect the Venezuelan and Argentina governments to come to a solution, as it would only continue to hamper the South American political realm should the two regional powers continue to disagree at this scale.
As for how each country could respond to this situation, the Argentine government could outright demand the evacuation of its staff, and of the asylum-seeking Venezuelan political opposition from its embassy at the expense of any future relations with the Maduro-backed Venezuelan government. On the contrary, the Maduro administration could be imminently pressed to release voting data for the election, provided it does not incriminate them on a greater scale. This all being said, the situation is ongoing, and the Brazilian government and foreign affairs ministry has continued to back their support of the Argentine government and the Brazilian-represented embassy in Caracas.
All of the involved nations are states, organized through democratic means, and they operate on various international levels through foreign relations and affairs. The Argentine government has aimed at taking action through international law organizations.