Spain does not know the charges against the two people arrested in Venezuela for participating in “a mercenary operation to destabilize” the country, said the country’s vice president, Diosdado Cabello, on Saturday when he announced the arrests of five foreigners, including the two Spaniards.
“The Foreign Ministry continues to demand official and verified information from the Venezuelan authorities on the arrest of two Spaniards, as well as clarification of the charges against them,” the official sources explained, adding: “The Spanish Embassy in Caracas is in contact with the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, to which it has informed that it will provide diplomatic and consular protection for its nationals. We keep the families informed on a regular basis.”
The Venezuelan government has linked the two Spaniards to the CNI, something that the government has also denied: “Spain denies and categorically rejects any insinuation of being involved in an operation to destabilize politics in Venezuela. The government has confirmed that the detainees are not part of the CNI or any other state body. Spain defends a democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.”
The Spanish government’s request on Monday comes 24 hours after the EU stepped up pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro, to the point of being described as “dictatorial” by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
“In Venezuela, there are more than 2,000 people arbitrarily detained after the elections. The opposition leader has had to flee. Political parties are subject to a thousand limitations on their actions. There are seven million Venezuelans who have fled their country. What do you call all this? Well, naturally, this is a dictatorial, authoritarian, dictatorial regime,” Borrell said on Sunday. He added: “But by saying so we do not solve anything. What it is about is trying to resolve, and sometimes resolving things requires a certain verbal restraint. But let us not deceive ourselves with the nature of things. Venezuela has called elections, but it was not a democracy before. And much less is it after.”
Meeting with Aznar
The president of the Faes foundation, José María Aznar, met this Monday with the Venezuelan opposition leader exiled in Spain, Edmundo González. He is the third political leader with whom the candidate for the Presidency of the Latin American country has met, who requested asylum after the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant against him. González met last week with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and with his predecessor in office, Mariano Rajoy, reports Aitor Riveiro.
In a statement sent by Faes to the media, the former president of the Government has asked “to remember that Edmundo González has won the elections; that Edmundo González is the elected president of Venezuela and that the international community cannot consent to the democratic deterioration in that country.” “We must all work so that Edmundo González’s exile ends as soon as possible and he can serve as president of a Venezuela in peace and freedom,” he added.
Edmundo González will meet with the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, on Tuesday; the same day that a resolution calling for the recognition of González Urrutia as “president-elect” is being debated in the European Parliament.
The European PP’s resolution proposal, to which EFE had access, urges member states and the EU to recognise the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, as the “legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela” and to do “everything possible” to ensure that he can take office on 10 January 2025.
The Popular Party also asks the EU and the 27 to “request an international arrest warrant against Nicolás Maduro for crimes against humanity and that specific sanctions be applied to him and all those responsible for human rights violations in the country.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
