Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentinian embassy in the capital Caracas, which shelters six Venezuelan politicians opposed to President Nicolás Maduro.
Members of the Venezuelan opposition have released images and videos of officials from the country’s intelligence services forming a cordon around the embassy building.
Opposition figures inside the building said they were “under siege” by the Maduro regime.
Brazil has represented the embassy as well as Argentina’s interests in Venezuela since diplomatic relations between Argentina and Venezuela collapsed this summer over the results of Venezuela’s presidential election.
On Saturday, the Venezuelan government revoked Brazilian supervision of the embassy in an apparent attempt to remove its diplomatic protection.
Argentina is Several countries disputed official results The presidential election gave Mr Maduro a third term in office.
Others have called on the Venezuelan government to release voting data, while Maduro’s allies – including Russia and China – have acknowledged his victory.
Venezuela’s opposition has released vote counts that show its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won, but Western countries have not recognized him as the elected president.
Ahead of the Venezuelan government’s latest action, Argentina’s foreign ministry said it would ask the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Maduro and other senior officials.
Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli is an adviser to opposition leader María Corina Machado and has been working at the embassy since March. write on X As of Saturday morning, “there are more and more officials wearing headscarves.
“They’ve blocked off the streets to vehicular traffic. We still have no power.”
Meanwhile, another opposition official, Omar Gonzalez Moreno, said the embassy had been without power since Friday night.
He added: “Security agents of the Maduro regime continue to conduct sieges and threatened attacks on Argentina’s diplomatic headquarters in Caracas, represented by Brazil.”
The Venezuelan government said it was forced to take action after allegedly uncovering “evidence of the use of these facilities… to plot terrorist activities and assassination attempts” against Maduro and his deputies.
Brazil said in a subsequent statement that it would continue to represent Argentina’s interests in Venezuela until another government is elected to fulfill that role.
It stressed the “inviolability of the facilities of Argentina’s diplomatic missions”.
Argentina’s foreign ministry said in its own statement: “Any attempt to interfere with or abduct asylum seekers living in our official residence will be severely condemned by the international community.
“Actions such as this reinforce the belief that Venezuela under Maduro fails to respect basic human rights.”
