Venezuela Declares EU Ambassador ‘Persona Non Grata’ After New Round of European Sanctions – President Maduro Comments
This Wednesday, February 24, Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza personally delivered a letter to the ambassador of the European Union in Venezuela, Isabel Brilhante Pedroza, declaring her persona non grata and giving her a period of 72 hours to leave the country, after the European bloc imposed further illegal sanctions against 19 Venezuelan officials.
“It’s really unacceptable. This interference is arrogant,” said the Foreign Minister from Casa Amarilla, Caracas, where he held a meeting with the diplomatic representative, following instructions issued by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro.
“Hopefully there is a calm evaluation, that they take the Charter of the United Nations, the Constitution of the countries in which they permanently interfere, and make a reflective analysis; that they can put to rest these interfering attitudes,” said the top diplomat.
Arreaza also stressed that Venezuela “is irrevocably free and independent, and bases its moral heritage on its values of freedom, equality, justice, and international peace, following the doctrine of ‘The Liberator’ Simón Bolívar.”
Arreaza said that Venezuela made the decision to declare the EU ambassador as a persona non grata in accordance with the Vienna Convention, granting Brilhante Pedroza 72 hours to leave the country.
The EU ambassador was also declared persona non grata in June 2020 after the European Union launched a similar set of illegal sanctions against Venezuelan opposition deputies who decided not to support former deputy Guaidó’s re-election as President of the National Assembly. After intense negotiations between the European Union and the Venezuelan government, that expulsion order was waived a few hours before the expiration of the deadline defined for this situation by international law.
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Arreaza explained that “the decision is due to the fact that there are already 55 (sanctioned officials), a ruling that the EU calls sanctions, as if they had some moral authority, which they do not have—nor is it legal.”
He rejected the fact that these sanctions were levelled against government officials, including opposition deputies and police chiefs. “In the Venezuelan State we have made every effort to stabilize democratic coexistence in the country; we held elections to re-institutionalize Parliament.”
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According to the Venezuelan top diplomat, the sanctions are synonymous with “interference and arrogance.” Arreaza recommended “that Europe cease to be an appendage of the dominant elite in the United States, that they make their own decisions respecting international law. Hopefully they learn to respect sovereign, free and independent countries like Venezuela!”
“Hopefully there is reflection in the EU, and there will be a bridge of understanding and dialogue,” Arreaza added.
President Maduro’s comments
Later on Wednesday, Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro made statement about the new incident with the European diplomats and authorities, reiterating his criticisms of Europe’s neo-colonial ambitions and supremacist position.
“We would not have wanted to do that, we would have wanted to have the best relations with Europe, but we’re not going to accept anyone who comes to attack Venezuela, to sanction Venezuela out of the blue and unexpectedly, without apparent reason. But they don’t want to be left behind in the imperialist ambitions… Because they consider themselves superior, because they don’t cease in their colonialist vision of Latin America. The European Union is welcome in Venezuela, but if it accepts the democracy of Venezuela,” said President Maduro during a televised broadcast.
Featured image: European Union ambassador to Caracas Isabel Brilhante Pedroza, expelled from Venezuela as persona non grata after a new round of illegal EU sanctions. Photo courtesy of MPPRE.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
