The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albaresdoes not exclude that he and the president of the government, Pedro Sanchez meets with Venezuelan opposition Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiarecently arrived in Madrid to request asylum, upon his return to Spain.
“I told him that when he returned to Madrid I would love to see you and give you a hug. He told me that it was the same for me and for the president, but the moment when he will meet him, which I am sure will happen at some point, I do not know,” Albares said in an interview on channel 24. RTVE times.
This is how he expressed himself when the journalist, citing sources close to the Venezuelan opposition, asked him about the meeting scheduled for next Thursday between González Urrutia, Sánchez and himself, to which he responded that he did not know the agenda of the President of the Executive.
Accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister is on an official trip to China, during which he will be received by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The interview with RTVE took place a few hours after the former presidential candidate and standard-bearer of the largest opposition coalition in Venezuela landed in Madrid on a Spanish Air Force plane to request asylum, a process that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects to be “favorable.” “.
Procedure that, Albares reiterated, González Urrutia himself requested and which isand was carried out without “any type of political negotiation” being conducted with the government of Nicolas Maduro. “Spain does not provide any compensation” and its position regarding the Venezuelan crisis remains the same, he insisted when asked if former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had played a role in the opponent’s decision.
Also asked whether the government would recognize González Urrutia as president-elect, Albares limited himself to saying that does not want to “make gestures that do not contribute to ensuring that the democratic will of Venezuelans is not respected”“We have been very clear in requesting the minutes and, once we see that there is no will to deliver them, we are considering different tools (…) and condemn the arrest warrant against Edmundo González,” the minister stressed.
In this sense, he assured that Spain “will never turn its back or abandon” the adversary or any Venezuelan. “We are doing everything in our power for all opposition leaders. The case of Edmundo González is not an isolated case. Spain is alongside all political leaders in Venezuela,” he concluded.
