BOGOTA, Colombia – Venezuela's cash-strapped government faces eviction from a Miami building it once owned after its consulate failed to pay rent since August.
The notice was filed Feb. 15 in a Miami-Dade county court. The landlord, a developer behind what will be Miami's tallest high-rise, said Venezuela owes over $142,000 in unpaid rent.
The late Hugo Chavez closed the embassy in the ritzy Brickell neighborhood in 2012 amid a diplomatic dispute with the United States. But Venezuela's government never stopped paying rent on the property.
The action comes days after President Nicolas Maduro made a surprise announcement that he would reopen the diplomatic mission to facilitate voting by Miami's large, mostly anti-government immigrant community in upcoming presidential elections.
Venezuela's state development bank sold the building in 2005 for $70 million.
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