The Venezuelan consulate in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, was the target of a Molotov cocktail attack on Saturday night January 11, a day after the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro in the Caribbean country. Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yván Gil, blamed “fascism” for what happened.
“Today, fascism attacked our Consulate General headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal with firebombs, attacking the services provided to our compatriots,” he wrote on his Instagram profile.
“The irrational aggressions of unbalanced groups will not be able to reverse the advances of the Bolivarian Revolution. We are grateful for the swift intervention of the Portuguese authorities which prevented further damage,” added the minister. “We hope that the investigations that have begun will allow us to find those responsible and determine the corresponding responsibilities,” he concluded.
A statement from the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs published on the social network X condemned what had happened. “The Portuguese government strongly condemns the attack on the Venezuelan consulate in Lisbon,” says the post.
The Portuguese government ordered “the immediate reinforcement of security and the corresponding police investigation” and recalled that “the inviolability of diplomatic missions must be respected in all cases”.
Maduro’s inauguration
The attack took place a day after the inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro at the National Assembly in Caracas, amid accusations of electoral fraud by the far-right opposition. The days leading up to the ceremony were marked by tension and an opposition dispute surrounding the event. The former opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, questioned the results and said he would be in Venezuela on Friday to be sworn in, which he was not. The Venezuelan prosecutor has issued a warrant for his arrest.
In his inauguration speech, Maduro, who is going into his third term, spoke about US interference in the Venezuelan economy. He also said that Washington was defeated when it tried to “attack” the country.
“We had strength against a public and media articulation by the US, which turned the Venezuelan election into a global dispute. It’s not Maduro, it’s a people growing into a man. If Maduro has meaning, it’s because Chávez has meaning. They tried to influence the election in a peaceful country, but the oligarchy is defeated, the US is defeated,” he said.
This article was first published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.