Venezuela kicks out head of EU delegation after new sanctions
CARACAS, (Reuters) - Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said yesterday that the head of the European Union’s delegation in Caracas had 72 hours to leave the country and declared her persona non grata after the bloc imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan officials this week.
In announcing the action against Portuguese national Isabel Brilhante,
Arreaza described the sanctions against 19 Venezuelan officials as “truly unacceptable.”
The sanctions were a response to legislative elections won by President Nicolas Maduro’s allies that Venezuela’s opposition and many Western democracies deemed fraudulent.
“We are doing this because the circumstances demand it,” Arreaza said.
Two EU diplomats said the move was unwelcome but will not change the bloc’s policy, end sanctions, or derail efforts to mediate a way toward new “free and fair” presidential elections in the South American country.
“The EU profoundly regrets this decision, which will only lead to further international isolation of Venezuela. We call for this decision to be reversed,” said Nabila Massrali, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Shortly after announcing the expulsion, Arreaza said in another statement that he had delivered protest notes to diplomats from Germany, France, the Netherlands
and Spain, which he said were the four governments that had “acted with the greatest, let’s say, malicious intent, to promote new attacks,” referring to the latest round of sanctions.