Sánchez’s two versions of the Delcy affair, before and after the discovery of his messages with Ábalos

The report of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) on the Koldo affair known this Thursday revealed, among other things, that the Government did not tell the truth about the arrival at Barajas airport in January 2020 of the vice-president of the Government of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, whom the Minister of Transport at the time and number 3 of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, went to see, today on the verge of being indicted. There have been various versions in recent years, both from the head of the executive, Pedro Sánchez, and from Ábalos himself, and all agreed that the arrival of Rodríguez was a sudden event to which the government had to react.

Sánchez, during an appearance this Friday in Rome after his meeting with Pope Francis, ended up admitting that he was aware of the arrival of Nicolas Maduro’s number two four days earlier, when Ábalos informed him in a message to which he himself replied: “Good.”. Nothing to do with an unforeseen event. And he argued that as soon as it became known that Rodríguez was under a European Union (EU) sanction that prevented him from even setting foot on Spanish soil, the government decided to cancel the visit. However, on February 25, 2020, during a control session in the Senateand with Pablo Iglesias as second vice president at his side, Sánchez gave another version of events. Applauded in the Upper House by Ábalos himself, he said nothing about the fact that the visit had been canceled, nor that he was aware of it, and congratulated his then minister for resolving a “diplomatic conflict”.