Venezuela has summoned the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, Ramón Santos, for consultations, given what the government of Nicolas Maduro considers “insolent, intrusive and crude statements” by the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, who criticized the “persecution” and “limitation” of fundamental rights that, according to her, the opponents of the South American nation suffer.
The ambassador, as Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil explained on his Telegram channel, is due to appear this Friday at the Foreign Ministry at the request of the Chavista executive, which considers that Robles’ statements “indicate a deterioration in relations between the two countries.” Maduro’s executive, Gil explained, has also summoned its accredited ambassador to Spain, Gladys Gutiérrez, for consultation, although he did not specify whether the appointment is for the same date that Santos is due to go to the Foreign Ministry or another.
Robles said, after the arrival in Spain of the standard-bearer of the largest Venezuelan opposition coalition, Edmundo González Urrutia, where he requested asylum because he was suffering political and judicial persecution in Venezuela, that what the government of this Caribbean country is doing with “many” anti-Chavistas is “unacceptable and unaffordable.”
This Wednesday, the Venezuelan Parliament, controlled by Chavismo, proposed a resolution that it hopes to approve to urge Maduro to break off “all diplomatic, consular, economic and commercial relations with Spain, after the Congress, with the vote against the PSOE, agreed to recognize González Urrutia as president-elect.
The opponent, who arrived in Madrid on Sunday, requested asylum due to the “persecutions” he says he suffered after the presidential election of July 28, whose official victory was attributed by the National Electoral Council (CNE) to Maduro, a result later validated by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).
However, the opposition insists that the winner was González Urrutia, a claim that has been supported by “83.5% of the electoral records” that it claims to have collected from witnesses and polling station officials on the day of the vote, which – it has assured – grant victory to the anti-Chavistas by a wide margin. However, the government assures that the records, which were later published on a website by the opposition, are “false”.
