DIPLOMACY: Since May 2nd, roadblocks have been erected by the police in the rue de Caracas where the residence of the French ambassador is located.
To protest against the treatment inflicted on its diplomatic representation in Caracas, France summoned, on Wednesday, the Venezuela ambassador to Paris, against a backdrop of tensions with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, French diplomacy announced on Thursday.
“France expresses its firm condemnation of the measures taken in recent days which undermine the normal functioning of our diplomatic representation in Caracas,” said an assistant spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arguing that these measures were “contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ”.
More water and electricity
Since May 2nd, filtering barrages of the Sebin, the Venezuelan intelligence services, have been erected at the entrance and at the exit of the rue de Caracas where is the residence of the ambassador of France, Romain Nadal, according to a source close to the file. The residence is also no longer supplied with electricity from the network since a power outage on May 3rd and must use a generator.
It also no longer has water and the well there can not be operated due to the lack of diesel fuel to power the pump, the tankers no longer having access to the street to supply it. “This position was expressed this afternoon when the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in France was summoned to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs,” added the deputy spokesperson. “The French authorities are waiting for these measures to be ended without delay in order to restore the normal functioning of our diplomatic representation,” he continued.
A “coup” against the heir of Hugo Chavez
The European Union supports the American plan for a transitional government in Venezuela without the socialist leader Nicolas Maduro and the leader of the opposition Juan Guaido. A number of European countries, including France, had recognized Juan Guaido in 2019 as the interim president of Venezuela.
Nicolas Maduro accuses his rival of having fomented an attempt to “invade Venezuela” which, according to him, was to result in a “coup”, with the complicity of the United States and Colombia. President Donald Trump has denied any involvement. Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, enjoys the support of Cuba, China and Russia. But Washington tightens more and more the screw of the sanctions against Caracas and the American justice indicted the political heir of Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) for “narco-terrorism” in March.
