CARACAS/OSLO: Venezuela’s government announced on Monday it will close its embassies in Norway and Australia and open new ones in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe as part of a foreign service restructuring.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government described the closures as part of a strategic resource reallocation in an official statement.
The statement added that consular services for Venezuelans in Norway and Australia would be provided by other diplomatic missions with details to follow.
Norway’s foreign ministry confirmed it had received notice of the embassy closure in Oslo but was given no reason for the decision.
Norway currently handles its affairs with Venezuela through its embassy in neighbouring Colombia’s capital.
A Norwegian foreign ministry spokesperson expressed regret over the closure and affirmed Norway’s desire to maintain dialogue with Venezuela.
The announcement came just days after the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Machado dedicated her prize for fighting for democracy to United States President Donald Trump.
The Norwegian foreign ministry spokesperson clarified that the Nobel Prize is independent of the government and referred questions to the Nobel Committee.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Venezuelan embassy in Oslo also did not respond to an email request for comment.
Phone calls to the embassy’s listed numbers outside business hours went unanswered.
Caracas described Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe as sister nations and strategic allies in the anti-colonial fight against hegemonic pressures.
The new embassies will facilitate joint projects in agriculture, energy, education, mining and other areas of common interest.
The embassy closures follow weeks of escalating tensions between Venezuela and the United States.
Venezuela has called on the United Nations for support over deadly US military strikes on vessels off its Caribbean coast.
Washington alleges the vessels were carrying drugs while some US allies on the UN Security Council have called for de-escalation.
Venezuela has stated it reasonably expects an armed attack against the country in the short-term.
Maduro has accused the United States of seeking a government change in Venezuela.
Washington has not responded to this specific accusation but has called Maduro the illegitimate head of a narco-state.
The United States has also announced a new counter-narcotics task force in its Southern Command overseeing Latin America.
The governments of Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso are more aligned with Russia which has supported Venezuela at the United Nations.
Russia has accused the United States of acting according to the cowboy principle of shoot first. – Reuters
