Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital Caracas, which has sheltered six Venezuelan politicians opposed to President Nicolás Maduro.
Members of the Venezuelan opposition have posted photos and videos of the country’s intelligence officials forming a cordon around the embassy building.
The opposition inside the building said they were “besieged” by Mr Maduro’s regime.
The embassy, as well as Argentina’s interests in Venezuela, has been represented by Brazil since diplomatic relations between Argentina and Venezuela collapsed over the summer due to the results of the Venezuelan presidential election.
On Saturday, the Venezuelan government revoked the custody of the Brazilian embassy, it said, in an apparent attempt to remove its diplomatic protection.
Argentina i among several countries that contested the official results of the presidential election, which gave Mr. Maduro a third term.
Some have called on the Venezuelan government to publish details of the vote, while Mr Maduro’s allies – including Russia and China – have recognized his victory.
Polling statistics published by Venezuela’s opposition party indicate that Edmundo González has won – but the West has stopped short of recognizing him as president-elect.
The latest actions by the Venezuelan government come after Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said it would ask the International Court of Justice to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Maduro and other top officials.
Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli, an adviser to the leader of the opposition María Corina Machado, who has been in the embassy since March, wrote to X that since Saturday morning, there has been an “increase in officers wearing head coverings.
“They closed the road to traffic. We still don’t have electricity.”
Meanwhile, Omar Gonzalez Moreno, another opposition official, said the embassy had been without electricity since Friday evening.
“The siege and threat of an attack on the headquarters of the Argentine embassy in Caracas, represented by Brazil, by Maduro’s regime’s security agents continues,” he added.
Venezuela’s government said it was forced to take action after it revealed “evidence of the use of institutions… in terrorist programs and assassination attempts” against Mr Maduro and his deputy.
Brazil said in a subsequent statement that it will continue to represent Argentina in Venezuela until another government is elected to fulfill the role.
It emphasized the “disrespect of the buildings of the diplomatic mission of Argentina”.
Argentina’s Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, said: “We, the Argentine people, are determined not to allow our embassy to be taken or disturbed.”
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