Overview

• Venezuela announced the closures as part of a foreign-service overhaul that the foreign ministry says will realign its diplomatic footprint and conserve state resources.
• Norway said the Oslo mission was shut without explanation, expressed regret, and noted embassy phone lines were disconnected by Monday evening.
• President Nicolás Maduro framed Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe as strategic partners resisting hegemonic pressures in announcing new embassies there.
• The shake-up followed the Nobel Peace Prize for opposition leader María Corina Machado, whom Maduro recently derided as a “demonic witch,” while Norway stressed the Nobel Committee’s independence.
• Separately, Bogotá police said two Venezuelan activists were shot and wounded in the Colombian capital, and Machado called for an investigation.