Caracas, May 17: Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has on Thursday said he ordered to tightened security at the embassy of the United States is the capital Caracas, despite the US’ actions against pro-Maduro government activists protecting Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC.
The development came shortly after US President Donald Trump ordered all non-emergency government employees to leave the Caracas embassy in the wake of the political and economic crisis in Venezuela, according to ANI news reports.
The Venezuelan president was quoted by Sputnik as saying, “I have ordered to boost the legal police protection of the building of the former US embassy which belongs to the US government. We will protect it because Venezuela follows conventions and international law. Criminals are sitting in the White House.”
Embassy Protection Collective activists, on April 10, started residing inside the Venezuelan embassy in Washington in a bid to protect the opposition Juan Guaido-led government and the United States from seizing it.
The US law enforcement has begun the process of trying to remove protesters from the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC, a US state department official said.
The eviction process on Monday came after a group of American anti-war activists began moving into the embassy last month.
Guaido’s envoys in Washington “have requested and directed anyone who is present on this property to departing from it immediately, and to not return without these ambassadors’ express authorization”.