Castro Condemns Venezuela's Argentina Embassy Siege

Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro (D) helped lead a bipartisan group of House members in condemning the Venezuelan government's siege at the Argentina embassy in Caracas. The bipartisan group released a statement against the Maduro regime, calling for an end to the siege.

Rep. Castro, who is the Ranking Member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, joined María Elvira Salazar (R), Subcommittee Chair, Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D), and Sylvia Garcia (D) as well as Florida Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), Carlos Giménez (R), and Mario Díaz-Balart (R) and others in denouncing the siege.

Six members of the opposition leader María Corina Machado's team have been taking refuge at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas. The members have been taking refuse since March. In the last month, Maduro regime's security forces have laid siege to the Embassy through efforts like cutting off water and electricity and stationing snipers around the Embassy. This past week, an Argentine military policeman that was tasked with defending the Embassy was kidnapped by the Maduro regime's security forces.

In the statement, the lawmakers call the Maduro regime's ongoing siege "a blatant violation of the Vienna Conventions."

Calling for an end to the political persecution of Corina Machado's team members," the lawmakers added that "the Maduro regime has cut access to water and electricity at the Embassy for weeks, an inhumane tactic which deserves clear repudiation from the international community." "We unequivocally condemn these actions and call for the safe passage of these individuals to Argentina or another destination of their choosing. Maduro and his accomplices must be held accountable for their crimes.”

On January 10th, Venezuela will be inaugurating Nicolas Maduro as president, but Urrutia is planning to contest this as he says he will be traveling to Venezuela to stand before the National Assembly as its rightfully elected president.