The Senate, with the Vox, UPN and Junts support And without the PNV -who voted for it in the Lower House-, approved urge the government to recognize Edmundo González as president of Venezuela and to promote before the International Criminal Court an arrest warrant against Nicolas Maduro and other “suspects” of crimes against humanity.
This went through a motion promoted by the PPwith an absolute majority in the House, which came just a week after Congress also urged the government to recognize Edmundo González as the legitimate winner of the elections thanks to the PNV’s key support for the popular group’s non-law proposal. The vote was canceled with 149 votes in favor, 102 against and two abstentions.
A support that, this time, the Basque nationalists did not give by not participating in the vote. Their senator Luis Uribe-Etxebarria stated in the forum that he wanted “a peaceful transition with guarantees for all” in this Latin American country, criticizing the “closure” of the Executive by the PP.
In defense of this initiative, the popular senator José Antonio Monago accused the government of “complicity” with the regime of Nicolas Maduro and “look the other way” by hiding behind the electoral registers so as not to recognize the victory of González Urrutia, while waiting for him to obtain political asylum in Spain, in the elections of July 28.
He also attacked the “shameful” role of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapaterowho “is not a mediator”, but what he does is “facilitate Maduro’s dictatorship”, disqualifications that have been constant among those who have intervened from the right bench.
Four amendments were presented to the text, including the The PP rejected two of them (PSOE and Vox) and accepted those presented by Agrupación Herreña Independiente (AHI) and Agrupación Socialista de La Gomera (ASG), thus gaining their favorable vote. The amendment of the Agrupación Herreña Independiente, defended by Aniceto Armas, emphasizes Release of two Spanish prisoners in Venezuela, accused of belonging to the CNI and of preparing an attack against Nicolas Maduro.
The senator told the PP and the PSOE that “Approve the best plan for Venezuela and not for your parties”. While the one registered by the senator of the Socialist Group of La Gomera, Fabián Chinea, demands the necessary institutional support so that the organizations and autonomous communities that work in Venezuela can carry out their work of solidarity with the population of Spanish origin.
On the platform, he assured that he considered the position of the PP as compatible with the requests electoral records from Maduro. The PP also had the support of Junts – they were not present at the vote in Congress because it coincided with the Diada -, which took the opportunity to attack the PSOE for “its great speeches in favor of democracy” while Carles Puigdemont “is condemned to exile the most Francoist soul of the Spanish State”, stressed Eduardo Pujol.
On behalf of the groups whose amendments were rejected, Paloma Gómez Enríquez (Vox) insisted on discrediting Zapatero’s work as a mediator, accusing him of “whitewashing the Maduro regime” and to be “the director of the Chavista government.”
And from the PSOE, Rafael Lemus accused the PP not being loyal to the government or the European Union, and he asked him if they were so concerned about dictatorships, why did Alberto Núñez Feijóo, during his visit to Raúl Castro’s Cuba, not meet with the opposition or talk about human rights during his trip to China.
Also against the motion, ERC took a position, whose representative, Sara Bailac, said that the sovereignty of the people is always defended, “on everything and everywhere, for Venezuela and also for Catalonia.” EH Bildu Senator Idurre Beriguren also demanded the election results, but objected to the Congress and Senate “dictating who is the president of Venezuela.”
For Uxue Barkos (Geroa Bai), it is obvious that “The Maduro regime is not a democracy”But Edmundo González cannot be recognized “in this situation of absence of minutes.” Listening to the debate, opposition leader Leopoldo López, his father and his wife, Lilian Tintori, were in the guest gallery.
