The US took custody of the Venezuelan embassy and official residences in Washington and New York after the diplomatic mission of the country’s opposition was closed following the removal of Juan Guaido as Venezuelan interim president, people familiar with the matter said.
The US Department of State took over the buildings on Monday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is sensitive.
The mission was closed because the Venezuelan opposition was left without an executive branch after Guaido was ousted and his interim government was ended after a vote in December last year, they said.
Photo: REUTERS
Representatives for the state department and the opposition did not immediately respond to questions seeking comment.
The incident adds to the confusion over who would represent the opposition in foreign countries. For the past four years, Washington called Guaido Venezuela’s rightful leader and gave full diplomatic recognition to the interim government he led.
The administration, which existed in parallel to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s administration, was also given control of foreign assets, including management of US oil refiner Citgo Petroleum’s parent company.
However, Venezuelan opposition lawmakers late last year voted to end the interim government, effectively removing Guaido.
His ambassador to the US, Carlos Vecchio, promptly left his post after the vote. In his place, opposition lawmakers appointed a representative, Fernando Blasi, who had served as Vecchio’s commercial attache.
However, Blasi was not appointed by an executive branch and therefore was denied an extension on his diplomatic status by the US.
A group of at least a dozen people was still working out of the embassy and diplomatic residences early this week. On Wednesday, they were denied entry to the buildings, after they were last month given 30 days to sort out their migratory status, the people said.
The representatives were told the US would take custody of the embassy, a diplomatic residence and at least two other buildings in Washington, as well as at least one building in New York, the people said.
Vecchio last week turned over the keys to the buildings to the opposition-led Venezuelan National Assembly’s assets council, of which Blasi is a member.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has said it would continue to recognize the National Assembly after Guaido was removed and that it still considered Maduro “illegitimate.”
The National Assembly, which first convened in 2015, is the last democratically elected institution in Venezuela, the US has said.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to