Pedro Sánchez receives Edmundo González at the La Moncloa Palace

Madrid. Hours after the Venezuelan National Assembly called for a break in political and economic relations with Spain, the president of the government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, received the opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia at the official residence of the La Moncloa Palace, who landed in Madrid last Monday and is waiting to be granted asylum status. The spokesperson for the Spanish government, Pilar Alegría, assured that both the Embassy and the consulates of the country in Venezuela are functioning “normally”, which is why the call made the day before by the legislative body has not been made effective, which did raise the concern of the Spanish business sector, which has 124 companies diversified in various sectors.

Although the meeting was not on President Sánchez’s official agenda, the first meeting he held after his return from his week-long tour in China was with the Venezuelan opposition leader, Edmundo González. And just a few hours after the energetic call from the Assembly by the Bolivarian political leader Jorge Rodríguez, who even demanded the cancellation of flights between the two countries, the expulsion of the entire Spanish diplomatic corps and the repatriation of the Venezuelan, and even to prevent companies of Spanish nationality from continuing to operate in the country. The reason for this call was the non-law proposal that was approved in the Spanish Congress of Deputies and that was passed with the vote in favour of the Spanish right-wing parties and which was also joined by the Basque nationalist right, the PNV. The party in power, the PSOE, voted against, as did the rest of the parliamentary left-wing forces.

The meeting between Sánchez and Edmundo González was part of his private agenda, so he did not make any kind of appearance before the press or explain the reasons for his meeting publicly. The Spanish president limited himself to explaining it through a message on social media, in which he said: “I warmly welcome Edmundo González to our country, whom we welcome by showing Spain’s humanitarian commitment and solidarity with Venezuelans. Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela.”

Meanwhile, González sent a message to his compatriots: “Dear Venezuelans, today I had a very pleasant and interesting conversation with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, at Moncloa, whom I thanked for his willingness to receive me and my wife in Spain. At the same time, I expressed our appreciation for his interest in working for the recovery of democracy and respect for human rights in our country.”

The opposition leader attended the meeting accompanied by his daughter, Carolina González, and, according to his version, he confirmed to the Spanish president his “determination to continue the fight to enforce the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28 by more than seven million voters,” maintaining that “the approach to the fight that María Corina Machado and I have led remains unwavering. The fight is until the end, when I will finally take possession of the presidency on January 10 and all our families can meet on Venezuelan soil.”