Government labels attack “intolerable”; “inviolability of diplomatic missions must be respected”
Much has been made of “an attack with an explosive device” on the Venezuelan Consulate General in Lisbon last night. But the incident appears to have been more of symbolic protest, than an actual attack.
Around 10pm last night, “a person threw a kind of improvised Molotov cocktail against a wall” of the Venezuelan diplomatic mission, which was closed at the time. No one was hurt, and damage was limited to a slightly blackened shutter.
Nonetheless, Venezuela’s foreign minister Yván Gil wasted no time in taking to social media to declare that ‘no uncontrolled aggression will stop the Bolivarian revolution’.
“Fascism attacked the headquarters of our Consulate General in Lisbon, Portugal, with incendiary bombs, attacking the services provided to our compatriots. The irrational aggressions of unbalanced groups will not be able to reverse the advances of the Bolivarian Revolution,” he wrote in a message shared on the Telegram platform.
Continuing in the same vein, the minister said he was pleased that due to the swift intervention of Portuguese authorities, no major damage occurred.
Gil describes himself as confident that “investigations that have been launched will make it possible to identify those responsible and determine the corresponding responsibilities”.
The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has referred to the incident as an “intolerable act”, not so much for the damage to the shutter, but because “the inviolability of diplomatic missions must be respected in all cases”.
According to reports, the ministry has ordered security around the mission to be ‘stepped up’.
All this comes at a time of protests by Venezuelans throughout the world against the Bolivarian regime – and the fact that Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro is beginning a third six-year mandate after elections widely condemned for having been rigged.
Last Thursday in Portugal there were demonstrations against the Venezuelan regime in Aveiro, Porto, Faro, Beja, Lisbon and Funchal (Madeira).
