Brazil SC suspends expelling 34 Venezuelan diplomats

Brasilia, May 3 (IANS) Brazil’s Supreme Court has issued an injunction suspending the Foreign Ministry’s move to expel 34 Venezuelan diplomats.

According to the injunction issued on Saturday, Judge Luis Roberto Barroso gave the government 10 days to explain why it set May 2 as the deadline for the diplomats’ departure, reports Xinhua news agency.

Brazil withdrew its diplomats from Venezuela’s capital city Caracas on April 17.

The Foreign Ministry notified the Venezuelan embassy this week that if its diplomats remained in Brazil until Saturday, they would be declared “personae non gratae”.

The injunction request was presented by Deputy Paulo Pimenta of the Workers’ Party.

“Forcing Venezuelan citizens to leave without adequate logistics, legal procedure, and responsibility in the midst of a pandemic is an act of cruelty,” said Pimenta.

–IANS

ksk/