The Venezuelan government has rejected granting safe passage to six opposition members who have sought refuge in the Argentine embassy in the country, Infobae reported on Monday.
"The Maduro regime continues to systematically violate human rights in Venezuela by illegally maintaining the arrest warrant for these six opposition members, David Smolansky, an opposition member residing in Washington, told the outlet.
The Argentine government, staunchly opposed to its Venezuelan counterpart, is gearing up to present a formal protest before the Organization of American States.
All opposition members have been in the embassy for over 50 days now and work with opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was set to be the presidential candidate after winning a broad primary but was banned from doing so by the government.
She has now thrown her weight behind Edmundo González Urrutia, a little-known diplomat who was allowed to sign up and around whom the entire coalition has rallied to present a competitive alternative.
Argentine president Javier Milei has been vocal about hisopposition to Maduro and vowed to continue protecting the opposition members. The Venezuelan president, in turn, called Milei a "puppet of the imperialists," in reference to the U.S. government.
The diplomatic tension is similar to one that has Ecuador and Mexico as protagonists, after forces from the former forcefully entered the latter's embassy where a former vice president was taking refuge.
Ecuadoran security forces stormed the Mexican embassy on April 5 to arrest Jorge Glas, who is wanted on corruption charges dating from his time in office from 2013 to 2017.
The rare incursion on diplomatic territory sparked an international outcry and led Mexico to break ties with Ecuador, pulling its diplomats out of the country.
Most Latin American countries also voiced concern with Quito's actions, but the Daniel Noboa government argues that Mexico illegally used its embassy to "shield Mr Glas from enforcement by Ecuador of its criminal law."
Mexico, in turn, has filed a lawsuit against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying it wants the country suspended from the United Nations.
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