Washington
CNN
—
The opposition-run Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC has suspended its operations, it announced in a press release Friday, after Juan Guaidó stepped down as opposition leader.
“We inform the Venezuelan community in the United States, and the general public, that the Embassy of Venezuela in the United States and all its officials will officially cease to function on Thursday, January 5, 2023,” a press release from the de-facto Embassy. said.
“We deeply regret the impact that this decision may have on our Venezuelan citizens in the United States,” he said.
All officials working at the embassy as well as the mission to the Organization of American States will remain in the US, a source close to the embassy told CNN, saying they cannot return to Venezuela for fear of persecution by the ousted regime. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Carlos Vecchio – who had served as Guaidó’s ambassador to the US and as leader of the opposition Voluntad Popular party – was exiled in the US in 2014 after Maduro issued an arrest warrant against him.
“Ambassador Vecchio will continue his struggle from abroad and it is expected that in the next few days, he will send a message to the Venezuelans,” the person said.
CNN has reached out to the State Department about the suspension of operations.
Members of parliament in Venezuela who are also members of the opposition last Friday voted to end the “interim government” led by Guaidó, and instead appoint a Delegation Commission that will oversee the protection of some Venezuelan economic assets held by foreign countries.
A press release from the Venezuelan opposition embassy in the US said that “the reduction of functions was decided by the majority of the deputies of the National Assembly Elected in 2015 who approved the Reform of the Law of the Statute governing the Transition and, unconstitutionally, removing the responsible Presidency. led by President Juan Guaidó, the Interim Government , and the Department of Foreign Affairs, including the Venezuelan Embassy in the United States, led by Ambassador Carlos Vecchio, recognized since 2019 by the US administration.
Guaidó has been the US-recognized leader of the country since January 2019, when he declared himself interim president. Guaidó’s admission led to a complete severance of relations with Maduro’s official government.
Maduro ordered the closure of all its embassies and consulates in the US in January 2019 in response to the admission, and the US suspended operations and withdrew all personnel from its embassy in Caracas in March 2019.
