Despite Colombia’s Responsibility, Venezuela Will Restore its Vandalized Embassy in Bogotá

Caracas, September 6, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—The Venezuelan ambassador in Colombia, Félix Plasencia, reported on Monday, September 5, that Venezuela will restore several diplomatic properties in Colombia that were vandalized during the tenure of former president Iván Duque, who in a clear violation of international law, allowed criminals to destroy them, despite complaints from Venezuelan authorities.

Ambassador Plasencia Delivers His Credentials to Colombian Authorities

“We are taking the effort to resolve everything and to be able to restore working conditions,” said Plasencia. “In Bogotá, we have several historic properties that we are going to restore after the irresponsible mistreatment and petty pillage.” Plasencia referred to vandalism inflicted on consular and diplomatic buildings that were under the protection of the Colombian government. According to the Vienna Convention, even in the case of a diplomatic rupture between countries, such as that experienced between Colombia and Venezuela from 2019 until the present, host countries remain responsible for the protection of embassies on their territory.

#COMUNICADO|Venezuela denuncia ante la Comunidad Internacional la vandalización de su sede Consular en Bogotá. El Gobierno colombiano incumple los artículos 22 y 45 de la Convención de Viena sobre Relaciones Diplomáticas al permitir estos hechos, por acción u omisión pic.twitter.com/geOikaVBdc

— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) July 28, 2020

Venezuela has denounced the lack of respect of Colombian authorities regarding the safeguarding of Venezuela’s diplomatic buildings. This was noted by Venezuela’s former Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in a tweet in July 2020, when he shared a communiqué stating the violation of Articles 22 and 45 of the Vienna Convention.

Venezuela Condemns Vandalization and Fire at Consulate in Bogotá

While the Colombian regime led by Duque failed to protect Venezuela’s diplomatic facilities in Colombia, the Venezuelan government, on the contrary, continued to protect the diplomatic and consular facilities of Colombia in Venezuela, despite the fact that a variety of unfriendly and violent actions were launched against Venezuela by Colombia since 2019. In a similar manner, Venezuela has protected the US Embassy in Caracas, while the US government handed several consular and diplomatic buildings of Venezuela to the fake government and diplomats of former deputy Juan Guaidó, who proceeded to allow these facilities to languish. They are now non-operational.

The headquarters of the Venezuelan embassy in Colombia is in precarious physical condition following looting and vandalization since the breakdown of bilateral relations.

Plasencia also confirmed that, for now, he is working out of an office in the north of Bogotá. The normalization of relations between Venezuela and Colombia began to materialize last month with the arrival of the new ambassadors to the capitals of both countries.

More than two million Venezuelans reside in Colombia, some of them waiting to resume procedures and be assisted at their embassy and consulates. Meanwhile in Venezuela, almost five million Colombians are also in desperate need of consular assistance. However, in their case they will be able to count on visiting the historic location, due to the Venezuelan government’s respect for international law.

“The worst part of this story is that far-right media present the news as if the Venezuelan government was responsible for the terrible conditions of the diplomatic offices, when the truth is that all this is the complete responsibility of the Colombian government and the Colombian state, and they should assume full responsibility for the restoration of those buildings, and compensate Venezuela for all the furniture and equipment lost due to their premeditated inaction,” an international analyst commented to Orinoco Tribune.

 

Orinoco Tribune special by staff

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