Venezuela's Foreign Ministry has issued a statement stating that Brazil and Canada's respective decisions to the expel Venezuela's ambassadors were a “good sign,” and a move made out of reciprocity that illustrates the “plenipotentiary power” of the Bolivarian Republic's National Constituent Assembly.
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In the official statement, the Foreign Ministry stressed that Venezuela's government welcomes the Brazilian and Canadian governments' unequivocal compliance with the decisions of the National Constituent Assembly and their belated recognition of Venezuela's national sovereignty and the diplomatic mandate of the ANC.
The text added that the Venezuelan government has always respected the internal affairs of Brazil and Canada, and Venezuelan diplomats have dutifully performed their tasks in a professional manner.
The statement was delivered in the aftermath of a tit-for-tat battle between Venezuela's foreign ministry and the governments of Brazil and Canada, which began when the head of Venezuela's ANC, Delcy Rodriguez, announced the expulsion of the two countries' ambassadors.
On Christmas Eve, Rodriguez blasted Ottawa for its interventions in the country's domestic affairs, noting that its diplomacy consisted of "permanent and insistent, rude and vulgar interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela."
In Brazil's case, the ANC denounced the unelected right-wing government of Brazil, which has grown fond of criticizing the Bolivarian government in line with the United States and Canada, for having violated the rule of law in Brazil itself.
"We have decided to declare persona non grata the Brazilian ambassador until such a time as the constitutional order is restored in the neighbouring country," Rodriguez told reporters over the weekend.