Diplomacy: the Venezuelan opposition closes its embassy in the United States

The Venezuelan embassy in Washington, whose staff has backed oppositionist Juan Guaido, announced its closure on Friday after the Venezuelan opposition officially ended the latter’s “interim government”.

Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in January 2019, receiving widespread international support. Venezuelan diplomats then stationed in the US capital, loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, ended up returning to Venezuela after the Organization of American States agreed to seat an opposition envoy in their place. The embassy building had then been occupied for several weeks from April 2019 by supporters of Nicolas Maduro, resulting in intense face-to-face meetings with supporters of Juan Guaido demonstrating in the street, until the occupants were evicted by the police.

But Juan Guaido failed to oust Nicolas Maduro and the international support he enjoyed gradually faded. In late December 2022, three of Venezuela’s main opposition parties approved the removal of its “interim government”, which they nonetheless supported when it was created in January 2019. As a result of this decision, the embassy “and all its representatives have formally ceased to perform their functions” as of Thursday, the diplomatic representation said in a statement, assuring that it regrets that Venezuelan citizens in the United States have been so deprived of consular services.

The outgoing ambassador, Carlos Vecchio, in a statement regretted the “political, economic and moral error” made by the opposition in ending Juan Guaido’s interim, and considered that Nicolas “Maduro (was) the only one to benefit from this decision.