Venezuelan President Maduro Calls for Preserving Inviolability of Embassy in US

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for preserving the inviolability of the country's embassy in the United States in the wake of US Secret Service officers' visit to the diplomatic mission where activists have been living for weeks to prevent the Venezuelan opposition and US authorities from taking over.

"The inviolability of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, should be preserved. Countries were at war with each other and bombed each other but kept their embassies and these embassies were untouchable, unbreakable and sacred. The administration of [US President] Donald Trump infringed upon this inviolability of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC It is responsible for this grave violation under international law not only in terms of law but morals, too," Maduro said live in Periscope on Wednesday.

Venezuelan diplomats of Maduro's government have left the diplomatic mission premises at the order of Washington. However, US activists, supporting Maduro, have been occupying the embassy with the consent of the authorities to prevent the supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido from taking over the embassy.

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On Monday night, the US Secret Service broke into Venezuela’s embassy. Guaido’s representative, Carlos Vecchio, said in a statement that the Secret Service agents have ordered the activists to leave the embassy or face imprisonment and prosecution.