The minority partner in the government coalition distances itself from the reception in Spain of the Venezuelan opponent Edmundo Gonzalezarrived in Madrid on Sunday on board an army plane after taking refuge for weeks in the Dutch embassy in Caracas and also in the Spanish embassy.
Sumar’s spokesperson and at the same time Minister of Culture, Ernest UrtasunIn his weekly press conference held this Monday, he stressed that what happened “does not imply in any way the recognition as winner of the elections”, referring to the presidential elections of July 28, although he acknowledged the shortcomings of these elections. “We have already said it, we cannot recognize a process that is not validated at the international level, whose minutes have not been published,” he said, while calling for a process of dialogue in which, he specified, “the government and the opposition mutually recognize the process”, as well as the fact that the international community supports “the efforts” to seek a solution through dialogue in countries such as Brazil or Colombia.
He repeated all this in response to several questions from informants, without recognizing Edmundo González as the winner, which he said would be tantamount to repeating the “mistake” of recognizing Juan Guaidó, also an opponent, as president of Venezuela in 2019. Urtasun avoided calling González a “hero” when asked by the media, as did the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, last Saturday, in remarks that preceded the news of the reception of the opponent of the regime of Nicolas Maduro, which occurred in the 20th century. four hours later.
He also did not want to describe Venezuela as a dictatorship, when asked a specific question in this regard, to which he responded by assuring that, except for this last time, “in Venezuela there have been many elections in the past by the Chavista government that have been verified, by the Carter Center itself, in the past”, referring to the foundation specialized in electoral processes founded by the former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter. At another point in his speech, he assured that “we do not share the repression that is happening in Venezuela, we have said it on several occasions”.
Urtasun, moreover, has harshly attacked in this matter the main opposition force, the Popular Party (PP), because according to him, those of Alberto Núñez Feijóo adopt a “totally irresponsible” position, in which they “criticize the Government for one thing and its opposite” and in which the people repeat “the mistakes of the past”, always in reference to what the recognition of Guaidó meant five years ago.
