The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchezadmitted this Friday in Rome to having been informed by the former minister Jose Luis Abalosnow noted directly in the Koldo affairof the arrival of the vice-president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez in Madrid in January 2020. A visit of which Sánchez gave a different version in the Senatewhen he hid his knowledge of this trip and emphasized that the government had maneuvered in Barajas to avoid a diplomatic crisis.
This point was revealed in the latest report of the Central operating unit (COU). The document includes a message from Ábalos to Sánchez, to which the president responded in the affirmative, in which he was informed of Rodríguez’s arrival four days before his plane landed at Barajas airport.
This Friday, Sánchez, in a brief press conference after his meeting with Pope Francis, assured that Ábalos had informed him of the visit, but that once the government realized that he There were sanctions imposed on the Venezuelan vice president, the visit was canceled. The President stressed that the government’s involvement in this matter was limited to this action and that any further action must be responded to by those directly affected.
On the other hand, the president’s previous version dates back to the one he presented before the Senate on February 25, 2020: “The vice president of Venezuela was traveling on a private flight to Spain. The first vice-president of Venezuela is the subject of a European sanction which prohibits her from entering legal European territory. There were two ways to prevent this from happening or preventing this from happening. The first was to generate a diplomatic crisis.
“Mr. Ábalos considered, with very good judgment in my opinion, that the second path was preferable, that is to say that between forcing or avoiding a diplomatic crisis, Mr. Ábalos chose the second, avoiding a diplomatic crisis,” Sánchez said at the time. . , without admitting that he himself had known the details of the visit, communicated by Ábalos, four days before Delcy’s arrival.
However, although he called Ábalos’ action “good judgment”, the chat conversations that took place in the following days between Victor de Aldama and Delcy Rodríguez herself show that Sánchez reprimanded his secretary at the Organization for the disorder, which he knew about days in advance.
The Senate version
The entire conversation in the Senate between the opposition and Sánchez that day went like this: “Mr. Sánchez, did you order Mr. Ábalos to have a meeting at the Madrid airport with Ms. Delcy Rodríguez, and in this case, to “What was the content of this meeting that Maduro himself described as secret?”, asked the spokesperson of the PP in the Senate directly. Javier Maroto.
“I’ll try to explain it again” Sánchez responded in a sarcastic tone, to the applause of the socialist group and the vice president, Pablo Iglesias, smiling at his side. “I will try to explain to you“Let’s see if this time they understand and are ready to turn the screen and start talking about issues that affect the Spanish people,” the president told the PP spokesperson.
“Let’s see, the president of Venezuela was taking a private flight to Spain. The vice-president is the subject of a sanction which prohibits her from entering European territory. There were two reasons why this wouldn’t happen. The first is to generate a diplomatic crisis with a government and the second is to avoid it. Mr Ábalos considered, with very good judgment in my opinion, that the second way was preferable.“said Sánchez, placing all responsibility for the controversial meeting on the Minister of Transport.
“Between forcing or avoiding a diplomatic crisis, Mr. Ábalos decided to avoid a diplomatic crisis. “Where is the blame?” Sánchez repeated, smiling, to the applause of his people.
“Lying is the worst quality of a politician, Mr. Sánchez, and you lie without blushing. “I don’t know why this episode is an anecdote to you,” Maroto chided him. “The episode of Delcy and Ábalos happened on European soil, and that is why someone had to give him the order to break European regulations. It seems very clear that it was you.
Reported by Ábalos
However, Sánchez He gave his express approval to “discreet” meeting between Jose Luis Abalosthen Minister of Transport, with the Chavista vice-president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez. The President of the Government personally authorized via his mobile phone the controversial meeting which led to the Delcygate affair. Ábalos informed him of the request of the number two of Nicolás Maduro and Sánchez wrote on his cell phone via Whatsapp: “GOOD“. This is what a new report from the Civil Guard of Koldo affair to which OKDIARIO had access.
“And to finish annoying you, the vice-president of Venezuela is coming privately on Monday, he wants to see me discreetly following on from the meeting I had with the Minister of Communication (who is his brother). The management that we agreed on in favor of Spanish companies has allowed Duro Felguera to recover a significant debt”, Ábalos informs Sánchez after 10:30 p.m. A few minutes later, the president of the government responded positively: “Good”.
Next, Abalos take a screenshot at 11:07 p.m. and shares it with his close advisor Koldo García. This is reflected by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard in a new report submitted this October 9 to the judge of the Koldo affair, Ishmael Moreno. “On January 16, 2020, during a conversation between Koldo and Ábalos, the latter sent him a screenshot in which the former minister contacted the President of Government.”
“In this way, Ábalos informs the President of the aforementioned visit, emphasizing that it would achieve debt collection of Spanish companies in Venezuela, notably the company Duro Felguera. However, on the part of this unit there is no evidence of debt recovery by Duro Felguera on these dates.
