CARACAS, June 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is at the French Embassy in Caracas, the South American country’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said, three days after President Nicolas Maduro hinted that his rival was “in hiding” at a diplomatic location.
“We cannot enter the premises of any country’s embassy whatsoever, in this case Spain or France,” Arreaza said, adding that that meant an arrest by force “is not possible.”
He made the comments when asked about the presence of Leopoldo Lopez, another leading opposition figure, at the Spanish ambassador’s residence, and about Guaido at the French Embassy.
“We hope that these governments will change their mind … and deliver those who wish to escape Venezuelan justice,” Arreaza said.
Calling the situation “deeply irregular” he added that “it is a shame for Spain’s diplomacy, it is a shame for France’s diplomacy what has happened and it will take its toll very, very soon.”
France and Spain are among the more than 50 countries that recognize Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela, after the country’s opposition-controlled parliament branded Maduro a usurper over his 2018 re-election in a poll widely derided as rigged.
On Monday Maduro hinted that Guaido was “hiding in an embassy” in a statement that the opposition leader immediately denied.
“They lie to you,” Guaido wrote on Twitter, adding that he was “with the people.”
Maduro and his administration have previously labeled Guaido a “fugitive from justice” although there is no known arrest warrant against him.
Lopez, meanwhile, has been at the Spanish ambassador’s residence since emerging from house arrest in April 2019 to join Guaido at a demonstration to try to incite a military uprising against Maduro, which never materialized.
Diplomatic tensions between Paris and Caracas over treatment of the French ambassador have run high since early May, when Venezuelan police began guarding the street where he lives and water and electricity were cut off at the residence.
These problems “affect the normal functioning of our diplomatic representation,” the French foreign ministry said.
