Venezuela lodges diplomatic protest against UK, Spain, Germany and Italy

Record ID: 908781

  • Title: Venezuela lodges diplomatic protest against UK, Spain, Germany and Italy
  • Date: 4th September 2017
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (SEPTEMBER 2, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION LEADER LILIAN TINTORI TALKING TO JOURNALISTS AFTER SHE WAS BARRED FROM LEAVING VENEZUELA
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2017 18:59
  • Keywords: Jorge Arreaza Italy Spain UK Germany Lilian Tintori
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026X6MC07
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:THIS IS AN INITIAL EDIT CUT FROM A LIVE SIGNAL. A FURTHER EDIT WILL FOLLOW AS 1185-VENEZUELA-POLITICS/FOREIGN MINISTER
    Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza summoned ambassadors from Spain, Germany Italy, and the United Kingdom on Monday (September 4) to issue a note of protest accusing them of meddling in Venezuela's internal affairs.
    There has been widespread criticism of Maduro around Europe, with French President Emmanuel Macron last week saying his administration was "a dictatorship trying to survive at the cost of unprecedented humanitarian distress."
    Macron, who did not speak to reporters after the meeting, last week also criticised the government after human rights activist Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuela's best-known detained political leader, was barred from flying out of the country to go to Paris, Madrid, Berlin and London.
    "They cannot silence the voice of 30 million Venezuelans," Tintori said on her Twitter account, adding that Congress Vice President Freddy Guevara had given Macron a letter from her.
    Arreaza said Tintori was not able to leave the country because she was due in court this week to answer questions over a stash of cash that police had found in her car.
    When she intended to leave on Saturday, several European ambassadors accompanied her to the airport.
    The situation in Venezuela has a particular resonance in France, where the far-left France Unbowed party, currently Macron's most vocal opponent, backs Maduro.
    Maduro is expected to address the opening day of a three-week U.N. Human Rights Council session on September 11.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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