Venezuela: 4 important situations that you have to know about

The taking of an embassy, two disobedient soldiers, detention on the road and a closed border are some things that happened in Venezuela

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The taking of an embassy, two disobedient soldiers, detention on the road and a closed border are some things that happened in Venezuela

1. María Faría and the Embassy of Costa Rica

In the past weeks, Juan Guaidó gradually fulfilled his role as interim president of Venezuela, and as such appointed several officials to resume roles in the different embassies or consulates of the countries that recognized him as Venezuela's interim president.

María Faría, an ambassador appointed by Guaidó, posted on her Twitter account that they were in compliance with " the diplomatic functions assigned by President Juan Guaidó and recognized by the Govt. Costa Rica ." In this way, Faría along with several diplomats took control of the Venezuelan embassy's headquarters in San José.

Leer en español: Venezuela: 4 importantes situaciones de las que tienes que saber

However, Nicolás Maduro's government officials stated that the actions carried out by Faría and his diplomatic team were illegal, since, despite the fact that President Carlos Alvarado Quesada acknowledged Guaidó on January 23 and Faría on February 1, they did not respect the deadline granted.

Alvarado gave 60 days for Maduro government officials to leave the country, which began counting from February 15. During the taking, Maduro's employees claimed that, while they respected the deadline. their rights were being violated.

Regarding what happened at the embassy, the deputy foreign minister, Lorena Aguilar, regretted what happened and told CNN that "the taking damaged elementary diplomatic norms." On the other hand, Foreign Minister Manuel Ventura met with María Faría; the official of the government of Guaidó apologized for what happened and argued that she would respect the deadline. In Ventura's words, Faría "is very sorry and told us that she apologized to both the president and the authorities, and to the people of Costa Rica for what happened (…) Faría wants to continue walking hand in hand with Costa in the best terms".

Guaidó's delegation left Costa Rica on Thursday and it is expected that, until the deadline is met, the officials would not return to the country.

2. Plus two for military support

Last Wednesday, the Military Attaché of Venezuela at the UN, Pedro José Chirinos, recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president of the country. In this way, and through a video broadcast on the Twitter account of the journalist Carla Angola, Chirinos affirms that "I declare myself in total and in absolute disobedience before the illegally constituted government of Mr. Nicolás Maduro. I recognize and offer my obedience and subordination to the transitional government under the President, engineer Juan Guaidó".

Similarly, Major Hugo Carvajal, who was in charge of directing military intelligence for more than 10 years during the governments of Hugo Chávez, announced his position in the face of the Venezuelan crisis.

Through a video posted on his official Twitter account, Carvajal said: "President in charge of the Republic, Juan Guaidó Márquez, here is one more soldier in the cause of freedom and democracy, to be useful in achieving the goal of restoring constitutional order that allows us to call for free elections".

He also called on Maduro to assume his responsibility and accept that Venezuela is suffering a humanitarian crisis. "It is inexplicable how the desire to hold on to power has generated so many calamities to our citizens (…) Nicolás, assume your responsibility, Chávez assumed in his moment."

Maybe you're interested in reading: Maduro counterattacks: what you should know about humanitarian aid

3. Guaidó course to the border

Recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, Juan Guaidó headed from El Rosal, Caracas, to the Colombian border in order to monitor the entry of humanitarian aid that he has been waiting for in Cúcuta for days. Faced with this, Maduro has called the situation a "cheap show" of the United States to take control of Venezuela.

Although the Venezuelan Guard blocked the caravan of deputies who were going to the border and threatened to blow up the buses' tires, they could find another way and continued with the journey to Táchira. On Thursday afternoon, the arrival of Guaidó to the border was confirmed.

4. Venezuela closes the border

In order to avoid the crossing of the humanitarian aid from Brazil, Nicolás Maduro decided to close the land borders with Brazil from Thursday, February 21, until further notice. In addition, since February 20, the government decided to indefinitely close all communication with "the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire, autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Holland," as Sputnik noted. "I did not want to do it, but they forced me, because they were preparing a provocation, also with the consent of the Government of the Netherlands," Maduro said. Similarly, he said he was considering closing the border with Colombia.

On the other hand, the plan at the Brazilian border aimed to transport more than 100 tons of aid, which contained food, medicines and emergency kits. However, according to the spokesperson of the Presidency, Otavio do Rego Barros, Brazil would continue with the aid plan, even if he affirmed that although "the limit of action is the border strip, what goes beyond the border is the responsibility of the Venezuelan Government ".

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "Venezuela: 4 importantes situaciones de las que tienes que saber"