The Argentine Embassy in Caracas is empty after the five collaborators of the opposition leader María Corina Machado who were refugees A year ago they became the protagonists of A story that seemed like Hollywood after being fughed in a “impeccably.”
On March 20, 2024, Claudia Macero, Magallí Meda, Humberto Villalobos, Omar González, Pedro Urruchurto and Fernando Martínez Mottola entered the diplomatic headquarters escaping from the government persecution of the Chavista regime that issued capture orders for them in the middle of the arrests against dissent, just months before the presidential elections of July 28, 2024 and in which Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed victorious to exercise a third consecutive mandate without showing evidence.
Once protected, the Machado team lived with the Argentine diplomats until the latter were mandatory to return to their country after the rupture of relations between the countries for the non -recognition of Maduro’s triumph.
Argentina Embassy Sniper Photo:Courtesy
On the days, the siege of the forces of the order against the opponents hidden in the embassy He left them without light or water.
With anyone from the Argentine Legation, BRasil took custody of the residence, He raised his flag and, waiting to be able to get them out, he ended up losing access to the place for negative of the Venezuelan government that surrounded the house for all fronts with police officers and even snipers were betting on the gardens.
The neighbors on the side and side are the embassies of Russia and North Korea.
With the passing of the months, to the intimidating presence of armed personnel, the cuts of energy and water, The prohibition was added to enter food and the vital liquid leaving them in “an imminent danger for their life and integrity,” He prayed an opposition statement signed in December 2024.
That same month, Fernando Martínez Mottola decided to leave the headquarters and surrender to the authorities.
Fernando Martínez Mottola, former minister of Venezuela Photo:Courtesy
Unofficially it was known that the Swiss embassy would have participated in mediation, although the fact has not been confirmed. Then, Martínez Mottola received house arrest and in February he died from a heart attack.
Asyled Embassy of Argentina in Caracas Photo:Command with Venezuela
The Guacamaya operation or extraction?
“On May 6, 2025 it will be marked as the day when the Government of Nicolás Maduro was surprised,” says analyst Edward Rodríguez.
That day, social networks announced that Machado’s five collaborators had escaped from the embassy. With the passing of the hours, the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, appeared in X.
“The United States celebrates the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas. After a precise operation, all hostages are now safe in US territory. Maduro’s illegitimate regime has undermined Venezuelan institutions, violated human rights and put our regional security in danger. We extend our gratitude to all the personnel involved in this operation and our partners who helped ensure the safe liberation of these Venezuelan heroes, ”he said in his personal account and whose message was backed by the Venezuelan opposition.
The macaws became the companions of the asylees Photo:Command with Venezuela
However, for Wednesday, while Maduro was on Russian soil with his chancellor and several ministers, including Defense, Vladimir Padrino, number two of Chavismo and current Minister of Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, said that the fact obeyed a negotiation, which included the abandonment of the country of Machado’s mother.
“They negotiate (…) she get rid of her mother and send her for an asylum. Imagine, in the middle of the mother’s day,” Cabello declared in his program ‘With the deck giving’, broadcast on national television and in which he showed photographs of Corina Parisca at the Maiquetía airport, as well as his passport.
“They negotiate (…) she get rid of her mother and send her for an asylum. Imagine you, in the middle of the mother’s day
Diosdado CabelloInterior Minister
According to Cabello, the government was aware of everything and insisted that Claudia Macero had abandoned the embassy in August and said that the man “who helped her flee” was arrested since he had plans to extract more opponents.
He even showed photographs of a macero in a boat. Information that was neither confirmed or denied by Machado, who did ratify that his mother had abandoned the country.
Meanwhile, Natalia Molano, spokesman for the United States Department of State, contradicted Habello: “It was no negotiation, it was an extraction, A very precise operation, ”he said.
At the moment, the United States and the Venezuelan opposition support the escape, while Chavismo- without insistence- defends negotiation. What is certain is that it was an operation that did not interfere with more countries.
At the beginning of the rumors, this newspaper consulted with a high diplomatic source in Argentina, to which he replied: “No, they continue in the embassy.” Minutes later, when Rubio spoke, he added: “We had no knowledge of this.”
In turn, the newspaper The Clarín from Argentina published that the CIA had been involved in the extraction operation and reaffirmed the fact that Neither Brazil nor Argentina knew about the operationbut they learned practically in real time.
“Maduro goes to Russia and leaves Diosdado, practically, as a vice president,” says analyst Rodríguez, referring to this operation exposed “a break in the president’s security structures” and whose negotiation thesis is not solid because “he has not been able to demonstrate how the five of the embassy came out.”
Cabello shows a photo of María Corina’s mother Photo:Screen capture
Waiting for operation details
“This is a kind of film deception,” says Andrés Izarra, former minister of Chavismo and now strong critic, who also agrees that there was no negotiation.
“Trump’s silence was eloquent, letting ‘Little Marco’ keep the laurels. The delay of maturism in react was no less revealing: negotiation was not,” he expresses, not ruling out the scenarios as the betrayal of the regime by the security agencies that guarded the Argentine residence day and night.
Izarra then considers that there may be “something simpler: money” because “In today’s ruined Venezuela, silver buys doors, wills and silences. Above all, between uniformed, ”he said.
For his part, Machado referred to the fact in an interview with a Venezuelan media. “Our goal is to disassemble the repressive system of the regime (…) Who do you have to believe, to Diosdado Cabello or the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio?” He said in the midst of his hiding without giving details of the operation.
On the output of the opponents, It is believed that they did it by land to Cúcuta or the Colombian Guajira and from there they set for the United States.
This is not the first escape that occurs in the time of Chavismo, it has already happened with former Metropolitan Salcade Antonio Ledezma and former General Luisa Ortega Díaz in 2017, and that of the ex -commissioner Iván Simonovis and Leopoldo López in 2019.
Machado insisted that the specific details of the “Guacamaya” operation will soon be known, But he suggested that the main door of the embassy did not leave.
At the same time that the embassy refugees left the country and the news was known, the security forces lashed out against opponents. NGOs account for at least seven arrests since last Tuesday, May 6.
On the other hand, Magallí Meda, one of the refugees who escaped, denounced and showed videos in which police dressed in their home are seen. He also denounced intimidation to his mother’s house in Caracas.
Ana María Rodríguez Brazón
Correspondent time
CARACAS
