Pedro Sánchez receives Edmundo González Urrutia amid growing tensions between Spain and Venezuela – Diario La Página – 2024-09-12 20:19:06

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia on Thursday, who arrived in Madrid on Sunday to seek asylum, amid growing tensions that have put relations between the two countries in jeopardy.

“I warmly welcome Edmundo González Urrutia to our country, whom we welcome by showing Spain’s humanitarian commitment and solidarity with Venezuelans,” Pedro Sánchez wrote on the social network X, along with a video in which both of them, along with the daughter of the Venezuelan opposition leader, are seen walking through the gardens of the Moncloa palace, the seat of the presidency.

“Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela,” added Sánchez, who received González Urrutia “in a private capacity,” according to sources close to the Venezuelan presidential candidate, who landed in the Spanish capital last Sunday on a Spanish Air Force flight, after a month in hiding.

Sánchez, whose government is demanding that the electoral records of the Venezuelan elections of July 28 be made public, but without recognizing González Urrutia’s victory, had expressed his desire to receive the opposition leader after his return from a tour of China, which occurred early Thursday morning.

Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, was proclaimed re-elected for a third six-year term by the National Electoral Council (CNE), amid allegations of fraud by the opposition, which claims that his opponent won the election.

The meeting took place with relations between the two countries in suspense, after the head of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, proposed to Maduro on Wednesday to break diplomatic, consular and commercial relations with the European country.

“Let all representatives of the delegation of the government of the Kingdom of Spain and all consulates and all consuls leave here and we will bring our own people from there!” cried Rodríguez, who asked the Foreign Policy Commission of the Legislative Branch to approve a resolution, which would then have to be ratified in the plenary session of the chamber.

Rodríguez was reacting to a proposal approved on Wednesday by the Spanish Congress, at the request of the right-wing opposition and opposed by Sánchez’s Socialist Party, to ask the Government to recognize González Urrutia’s victory on July 28.

The proposal is not binding, so it does not oblige Sánchez, who from China had already defended granting asylum to the opposition candidate as a “gesture of humanity” by his government “towards people who unfortunately are suffering persecution and repression.”

As the Spanish Congress began debating the proposal on Tuesday, hundreds of Venezuelans demonstrated outside the legislature, including González Urrutia’s daughter, who read a message from her father urging opponents “not to lose heart.”

An estimated 280,000 Venezuelans live in Spain, including several opposition leaders. The figure does not include those who have acquired Spanish nationality.

Jorge Rodríguez accused the European country of becoming a “refuge” for “murderers”, “coup plotters” and “violent people”.

Venezuelan justice, accused of serving Chavismo, was looking for González Urrutia for various crimes, for the dissemination of copies of the electoral records on a website that attributed the electoral victory to him.

Faced with the possibility of a break in relations, Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría told reporters on Thursday that her country is “interested” in “always working to maintain the best relations with the Venezuelan people.”

“The embassy in Venezuela is working completely normally,” he added.