Credit: http://mppre.gob.ve/en /  Venezuela’s Ambassador To United Nations Samuel Moncada

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC TIMES

What unfolded at  Venezuela’s  embassy in Washington D.C. over the past month is unprecedented – a group of American anti-war activists occupying a diplomatic facility in the nation’s capital. For weeks,  an activist group that supports embattled Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro had been protesting and living inside of the Venezuela embassy in the swank Georgetown district of Washington D.C. It all came to a dramatic end Wednesday as police swooped in early in the morning arresting and removing the remaining four activists holed up the embassy. Many likened it to an “illegal U.S. invasion” of a sovereign foreign embassy. Now, the big question is: was the  Wednesday action that involved U.S. Secret Service police officers assisted agents from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, a  violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention by the United States government, regarding the siege to Venezuela’s  Embassy in Washington D.C.?  Venezuela’s Ambassador to United Nations Samuel Moncada thinks so. 

“This a massive violation not just of Venezuelan rights, but of the rights of all diplomats around the world, with respect to their physical, and I would say, moral integrity,”

Moncada  stated at a press conference given  at U.N headquarters in New York. 

Credit: UNTV / Venezuela’s Ambassador To United Nations Samuel Moncada at press conference

According to the Madruro government,  the activists  were staying in the Embassy ” with our permission” and did not authorize any of the Guaidó representatives to enter the diplomatic facility.  Possession of the embassy was turned over to the pro-Maduro activists when Venezuela diplomats were forced from the country last month.

United Nations Recognizes Nicolas Maduro As The Only President of Venezuela 

Photo by  Gary Raynaldo / UN world headquarters in New York City

The United Nations has continued to recognize Maduro as the constitutional and legitimate president of Venezuela, despite opposition leader Juan Guaidó declaring himself the Latin American nation’s “interim” president in January 2019,  at which time the U.S. Trump administration immediately backed Guaidó and called for the ouster of Maduro.   The UN refuses to take a position in favor of the U.S. backed Guaidó,  despite ongoing pressure from the Trump administration

Venezuelan ambassador Moncada points  to Art. 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states…  “the premises of the mission shall be inviolable.”  The article ensures that the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission and is under a special duty to protect the diplomatic mission against any intrusion or damage.

Credit: carlosvecchiotwitter /  The U.S. has recognized Carlos Vecchio as Guaidó’s Venezualan ‘chargé  d’affaires’  in America. Vecchio

Moncado further states that if  Guaido’s  hand-picked U.S. Ambassador Carlos Vecchio and staff were to “illegally” take over the Embassy, they would be powerless lacking  authority to issue passports or any consular services, as “they have zero power in Venezuela, something the world saw during the failed coup on April 30.”

©Diplomatic Times / Activists occupy Venezuelan embassy in DC prior to police entry of diplomatic compound and their arrest and removal.