Queen’s Funeral: Venezuela’s Maduro Joins Taliban, Kim Jong-un on No-Invite List

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures during a press conference with members of th
YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images
Frances Martel

British media organizations confirmed on Wednesday that Venezuela would not receive a formal invite to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, shutting out socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and the rightful president of the country, Juan Guaidó.

The government of the United Kingdom does not formally recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state, as he lost that title in 2019 per his country’s Constitution. This lack of recognition has fueled a years-long legal battle over the nearly $2 billion in gold held in the Bank of England belonging to the government of Venezuela and who, specifically, can claim to represent it.

Despite years of tensions with the United Kingdom and the free world in general, the failure to convince London to give him access to the Bank of England gold, and a storied history of disrespect for European monarchies on the part of the socialist Bolivarian Revolution, Maduro offered a statement of condolence to the queen and the people of the United Kingdom upon her death last week.

Queen Elizabeth II served 70 years on the throne, the longest of any British monarch in history. Her death prompted global outpourings of appreciation and mourning, including throughout Latin America, where governments from the administration of hardline conservative Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to the communist Castro family mafia in Cuba declared official days of mourning in her honor.

Maduro’s dictatorship joins the rogue states of Syria, Burma, Russia, and Belarus on the small list of nations not receiving a formal invite to the historic event. North Korea, one of the world’s most repressive regimes, will only be allowed an ambassadorial delegation to the funeral, the U.K. Press Association confirmed on Wednesday, meaning its dictator, Kim Jong-un, would also not be invited to attend. Iran and Nicaragua received similar abbreviated invitations, essentially shutting out their dictators, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Daniel Ortega, respectively.

The lack of invitation to Ortega is notable because, while a communist dictator, the government of the United Kingdom has not formally condemned Ortega or weighed in on the ongoing religious repression in Nicaragua. Ortega has contended for years with a growing peaceful opposition largely fueled by the Catholic Church, resulting in the mass arrests of priests and nuns, as well as the shutdown of religious media outlets.

Also failing to receive an invitation is the Taliban terrorist organization, which currently functions as the government of Afghanistan after leftist American President Joe Biden extended, then abruptly ended, the 20-year Afghan War, prompting the total collapse of the Afghan government.

While most nations absent from the invite list are dictatorships, London also failed to invite the democratic state of Taiwan to send a delegation to the funeral. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Wednesday it had not received a formal invitation but was seeking an “appropriate” way to participate in global mourning.

London invited representatives of the Chinese Communist Party to attend the event. China is one of the world’s most repressive regimes and, as part of its “One China principle,” demands that nations seeking diplomatic ties with Beijing incorrectly fail to recognize Taiwan as a country.
The Times also confirmed that the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, a Russian client state, would not receive any formal invitations to the event, either.

“Officials are still waiting to hear who will attend from many countries, but Syria will not be invited because Britain does not currently have diplomatic relations with the state,” the newspaper explained. “Venezuela was also not invited because the UK does not recognise the government of President Maduro. Afghanistan, from which the British embassy was relocated to Doha following the Taliban takeover last year, was not invited owing to the current political situation.”

While Maduro’s absence is easily explained by the fact that London does not recognize him as the head of state of his country, not inviting any representative of Venezuela at all highlights the mounting lack of confidence in Juan Guaidó. Guaidó became the president of Venezuela in early 2019 following a sham election with record-low turnout in 2018, which Maduro claimed to win. The Venezuelan Constitution states that, in the event of a “rupture in the democratic order,” the National Assembly can appoint an interim president – Guaidó’s path to the title. Guaidó has entirely failed to exercise any meaningful presidential power. The nation’s armed forces still answer to Maduro, and Maduro remains the primary resident of Miraflores, the presidential palace.

Guaidó’s only exercise of presidential powers has been the appointment of ambassadors and other diplomats in friendly countries around the world. That power also appears diminished in light of his lack of representation at the queen’s funeral.

Guaidó issued a statement last week offering his “most heartfelt condolences to the British people and the Royal Family” in response to Queen Elizabeth’s passing.

“During her reign, Elizabeth II was an example of leadership, public service, and commitment with democracy around the world,” Guaidó wrote:

Maduro, somewhat surprisingly, also grieved publicly.

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela laments the passing of Queen Elizabeth II of England, British monarch,” he wrote in a public statement shared on Twitter. “We express our condolences to the royal family, the United Kingdom, and the British people. Peace to her soul!”:

The queen’s funeral is scheduled to take place on Monday. At press time, the most high-profile representative from Latin America to confirm his attendance will be Bolsonaro of Brazil, who also declared a three-day mourning period for the queen in his country. He is expected to be among hundreds of heads of state who will honor the queen, so far including Biden, Emperor Naruhito of Japan, King Felipe VI of Spain, Islamist Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and several leaders of countries that still recognize the British crown as the head of state, including Canada and New Zealand. Also representing New Zealand will be Maori King Kiingi Tuheitia.

King Felipe’s father, the former Spanish King Juan Carlos – who once famously asked a hectoring Hugo Chávez at a summit, “Why don’t you shut up?” – is also expected to attend.

The nature of the event and extensive VIP list will require what is expected to be the largest security operation in the history of the United Kingdom.

“It’s one of the biggest security headaches for the UK because of the nature of the event, widely publicised days in advance and just about every world leader possible coming into London,” a former military intelligence officer told the Daily Mail this week. “It will attract everyone from across the globe and those that will potentially want to disrupt it – terrorists, hostile intelligence agencies.”

In addition to the funeral, British citizens will have the opportunity to visit and honor the queen while lying in state. At press time, the Times reports that the line of people waiting to see the queen’s coffin is four miles long. Authorities have estimated that it may take some people up to 20 hours of waiting to get their turn to honor her.

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.

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