Venezuela has accused the Government of Chile, headed by the left-wing president, Gabriel Boric, of “interfering in internal affairs” in a statement published by its Foreign Ministry, in which it expresses its condemnation for the arrest of two collaborators of the opposition presidential candidate, María Corina Machado. The Chilean text led this Friday to the delivery of a note of protest to the Chilean ambassador in Caracas, the socialist Jaime Gazmuri.
The controversy between both countries arose after the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a text reacting to the arrest of Henry Alviárez, a close leader of the anti-Chavista presidential candidate and number two of his party, Vente Venezuela, and Dignora Hernández, general secretary of the organization. “The Government of Chile expresses its firm condemnation of the arbitrary detention of representatives of political parties of the Venezuelan opposition, which constitutes an action contrary to the democratic spirit that must prevail in any electoral process,” the statement said.
In the letter, the Boric Administration has stated that the arrest of the opponents “seriously affects the holding of democratic, transparent and free presidential elections, with full participation of all candidates, contravening the Barbados Agreements validated by the international community. ”. The Chilean Foreign Ministry has also called on the Nicolás Maduro regime to “end the harassment against political opponents.”
The Chilean position caused annoyance among Chavismo. The Venezuelan vice minister for Latin America, Rander Peña, scheduled a meeting with the Chilean ambassador, where he delivered a note of protest against the tone of the statement. “It is unacceptable that they stubbornly insist on interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, collaborating with a systematic smear campaign against Venezuela,” the government representative wrote on his account on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Peña has also said that “the Venezuelan Government reminds the Chilean Government that, as a sovereign Nation through its competent justice bodies, it acts in accordance with the principles that emanate from the Magna Carta and national laws to guarantee peace and security.” of the Venezuelan people.”
We delivered a note of protest to the Chilean Ambassador in Venezuela after a statement from @Minrel_Chile Today, it is unacceptable that they stubbornly insist on meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, collaborating with a systematic smear campaign against Vzla. pic.twitter.com/aGC7Apb9jM
— Rander Peña Ramírez (@RanderPena) March 22, 2024
President Boric has had a critical view of the Maduro Government and has made it known on repeated occasions. At the beginning of this month of March, when Chile was still facing the echoes of the kidnapping and murder of former Venezuelan dissident military officer Ronald Ojeda, the president reinforced his view. “I have been very critical and not only critical, but I have denounced in international forums the human rights violations of a regime that, without a doubt, has had an authoritarian drift and we, as is the Venezuelan regime,” he said . The evaluation of the Chavista government has not been unanimous in the Chilean ruling party, since the Communist Party (PC) has refused to describe it as a “dictatorship” as some of its center-left partners have done.
This controversy has appeared in the midst of Chile's efforts to resume diplomatic ties with Venezuela, which were broken during the last Administration of Sebastián Piñera (2018-2022), who aligned himself with the then opposition leader, Juan Guaidó. The current Chilean Government seeks to normalize relations to address, for example, issues such as the migration crisis caused by the massive entry of Venezuelan citizens through irregular border crossings. To this end, last May Boric appointed Jaime Gazmuri, a renowned and experienced socialist politician who had previously served as representative in Brazil, as ambassador in Caracas.
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