The government of Venezuela expels Dutch, French and Italian diplomats from the country. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto wrote this in an email on Tuesday evening message on Telegram. Gil Pinto calls the expulsion of the diplomats a response to the “hostile behavior” of the governments of the three European countries.
From now on, only three diplomats are allowed to work at the embassies and consular posts of the Netherlands, France and Italy. According to a spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, six Dutch people currently work at the embassy in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. So half of them have to leave. The Netherlands has no other diplomatic posts in Venezuela.
Dutch, French and Italian diplomats must now also have written permission from the Venezuelan government for travel further than 40 kilometers from Plaza Bolívar in Caracas. The most important government agencies are located on that square.
Western support for the opposition
Gil Pinto accuses European countries of supporting extremist groups and interfering in domestic affairs.
By this the minister is referring to Western support for the opposition. On Friday, Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as president of the South American country for the third time, following his claimed victory in the presidential elections at the end of July. Many Western countries, including the Netherlands, doubt this result. They see opposition leader Edmundo González as the rightful winner.
After Maduro declared himself the election winner in July, González fled to Spain. The Netherlands then briefly offered the opposition leader shelter in the official residence of the Dutch ambassador. Maduro has offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to González’s arrest.
In an initial response, Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp (NSC) calls the expulsion of the Dutch diplomats an “escalation by Maduro”, which makes a dialogue “even more complicated”. According to Veldkamp, the Netherlands will consider a counter-reaction together with EU partners. The NSC minister also writes that he will summon the Venezuelan chargé d’affaires – a deputy for the ambassador – and ask for clarification.
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