RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Venezuelan embassy in Brasília was invaded yesterday morning by a group of 20 supporters of Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed president of Venezuela.
According to reports, they jumped over the wall and seized the premises.
The group rejects the report and says it peacefully accessed the facility, with authorization from officials who had “deserted” and opened the gates.
The State Police (PM) was called in, but did not remove the people from the diplomatic representation: since it is foreign territory, it may not operate inside the building.
Freddy Meregote, the country’s chargé d’affaires in Brazil, sent out audios to deputies and leaders of social movements to get them to come to his aid.
“Comrades, I report that strangers to our facilities are entering [the embassy], are violating Venezuelan territory. We need help and immediate activation of all social movements and political parties,” Meregote said in his message.
Meregote denies that embassy officials allowed the group to come in because they no longer acknowledge the government of Nicolás Maduro: “All embassy officials acknowledge Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. There was no such thing,” he told the story.
In a statement, attorney María Teresa Belandria Expósito, appointed by Guaidó as Brazil’s ambassador and recognized by President Jair Bolsonaro, said that “a group of officials from the Venezuelan embassy in Brazil contacted us to report that they acknowledge President Juan Guaidó”.
They then opened the doors to “voluntarily surrender the diplomatic headquarters to the legitimately acknowledged representation in Brazil”.
The action “was immediately reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” she said.
The acting head of mission, appointed by Maduro, says that families with children were inside the premises, being “harassed” by the demonstrators.
However, Guaidó’s putative ambassador claims that the employees are only being invited to “join the Embassy’s work”, with all their “labor rights ensured”.
A group of federal deputies, led by leftist Paulo Pimenta (PT), visited the embassy early in the morning in an attempt to expel the trespassers.
Venezuela has not had an ambassador to Brazil since 2016 when Nicolás Maduro called his then government representative in Brasília back to Caracas in protest against Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment.
This year, Jair Bolsonaro’s government acknowledged Guaidó as president of Venezuela.
He then received the credential letter from Venezuelan attorney María Teresa Belandria Expósito, who was appointed Venezuela’s representative in Brazil by Guaidó.