CARACAS (Reuters) – Argentina’s diplomatic residence in Caracas, where five members of the Venezuelan opposition are staying to avoid arrest, has become a “prison”, an opposition member who lives there said on Saturday.
The residence has been without electricity for more than a month, Magalli Meda, advisor to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, told X.
“It is a violation of our human rights. It has become a prison of the embassy,” she wrote.
The Venezuelan government claims the power outage occurred after the residence failed to pay its electricity bill.
The dissidents have been imprisoned in the residence since warrants were issued for their arrest in March.
In July, disputed presidential elections were held in Venezuela, where both President Nicolas Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won. The opposition presented a detailed number of votes in its favor, while Maduro did not.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez has fled to Spain, while Machado, who is banned from running in the July elections, is in hiding.
Argentina and Peru supported the opposition’s election victory, causing diplomatic friction with Maduro’s government. Brazil has since taken over the work of both countries’ embassies in Venezuela.
“No ambassador has come to this embassy. Not one. Have they tried? Surely some would,” said Meda.
Venezuela and Argentina are currently in a diplomatic spat over the detention of an Argentine security official in Venezuela earlier this month.
Argentina’s government claims the man traveled there to visit family, while Maduro’s administration has accused him of being part of a right-wing terrorist plot against the government.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Leslie Adler)
