Maduro’s Regime Has Turned the Argentine Embassy into a Prison for Opposition Leaders

Brazil has custody of the diplomatic building but has remained silent.

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The Brazilian flag raised at the Argentine embassy, where Venezuelan opposition members have sought asylum since March, after Argentine diplomats were expelled from Venezuela, in Caracas, August 1, 2024.

Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters

The ongoing siege at the Argentine embassy in Caracas is a stark reminder of the oppressive lengths to which Nicolás Maduro’s regime will go to silence dissent. Six members of our team, the core Caracas-based staff of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, are trapped inside the embassy. Since March, they have sought asylum there, after facing fabricated charges of conspiracy and treason. Now it seems that time may be running out.

The siege has effectively turned the embassy into a prison. The regime has cut off electricity and water to the building where Pedro Urruchurtu, Omar González, Claudia Macero, Magalli Meda, Humberto Villalobos, and Fernando Martínez are seeking shelter in increasingly dire conditions. Their only crime is believing in democracy in socialist Venezuela.

DS

About the Author

David Smolansky

David Smolansky is a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, deputy director of the ConVzla presidential-campaign office in Washington, D.C., and a former opposition mayor in Venezuela.

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