Spanish
Caracas,.- The Venezuelan government announced on Monday the closure of its embassies in Norway and Australia and the opening of new diplomatic missions in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, a decision it made to "strengthen alliances with the global south" and as part of a "strategic reallocation of resources".
In a statement, Nicolas Maduro's Executive detailed that bilateral relations and consular attention to the Venezuelan community in Norway and Australia will be carried out through "concurrent diplomatic missions, the details of which will be announced in the coming days."You may be interested in: Trump: "There Will Never Be a Third World War"
"Venezuela ratifies that these actions reflect its unwavering will to defend national sovereignty and actively contribute to the construction of a new world order, based on justice, solidarity, and inclusion", stated the Chavista government. This decision is made three days after the Norwegian Nobel Committee, based in Oslo, announced opposition leader María Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize "for her tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela. Regarding the alliance with Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, the Maduro government indicated that it will "proceed with the opening" of new Venezuelan embassies in these countries to strengthen "historical ties with the African continent" and establish "resident diplomatic missions in two sister nations, strategic partners in the anti-colonial struggle and resistance against hegemonic pressures." "These embassies will serve as key platforms to promote cooperation projects in agriculture, energy, education, mining, and other areas of common interest," he specified. Venezuela justified the closure and opening of embassies as part of a "first phase of comprehensive restructuring of its foreign service, in line with the strategic guidelines of the Plan de la Patria of the 7 Transformations (7T)." This program was announced last January by Maduro and includes "seven strategic lines" for the economic recovery of the country and its social transformation. Norway has been a facilitator in various dialogue processes and rapprochements between Chavismo and the opposition, which led, for example, to the signing of the Barbados agreement in 2023. This document offered guarantees for the 2024 presidential elections and was ultimately considered "dead letter" by the largest opposition coalition, which denounced fraud after the electoral body proclaimed Maduro's re-election without publishing the disaggregated results of this contest.Following the 2024 presidential elections, Venezuela severed relations, in a single day, with Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay, whose governments rejected Maduro's proclaimed victory, leading to the immediate suspension of diplomatic contacts.
In August of this year, Norway denounced the increase in forced disappearances in Venezuela and the use made of them by the Maduro government to "silence members of the opposition". In this regard, he expressed his concern about "the disappearances associated with the elections in Venezuela, including the so-called cases of short-term disappearances committed during and around the presidential elections of July 2024". The announcement of the closure and opening of diplomatic missions also coincides with the new episode of tensions that Caracas and Washington have been experiencing since August after the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela.
