Honduras serves notice on Venezuela; rattles sabres

Xinhua Agency:

Honduras’ interim government on Tuesday gave 72 hours to Venezuelan diplomats to leave, accusing them of threatening to use force and interfering into the country’s internal affairs.

“The Foreign Ministry has requested the honorable embassy of Venezuela the withdrawal of its administrative, technical and diplomatic staff in a term of 72 hours due to the threats of using force, the interference in internal issues as well as the lack of respect to the territorial integrity,” Deputy Foreign Minister Martha Lorena Alvarado said.

The request, however, was turned down by Vezezuelan diplomats who said they would not leave Honduras and would not obey the order of any coup government not recognized by Venezuela.

As diplomat-speak goes, the Foreign Ministry’s announcement is rather strong.  Typically, should some second secretary get caught with his hand in the cookie jar (or in bed with the prime minister's sister), he’s simply declared “persona non grata” and tossed out without further explanation.  By listing specific reasons (“threats of using force, the interference in internal issues.., lack of respect to the territorial integrity”), the DFM has upped the volume on this one.^[1]  Note also that any one of the three reasons given could be grounds for a declaration of war.

Question for the international lawyers out there:  If the Venezuelans are still in Honduras at the end of the 72-hour period, does that mean they forfeit any diplomatic immunity?

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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:59:37 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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