Sunday, September 8 at 5:16 in the morning. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, publishes an article in X with an announcement: “Edmundo González, at his request, flies to Spain on board a Spanish Air Force plane. The Spanish government is committed to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans.
Six days later, the Venezuelan government announced on Saturday the arrest of two Spanish citizens, whom it links to the CNI and claims are involved in a plan to commit “terrorist” acts against Nicolas Ripe. The arrest was announced by the Minister of the Interior and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, during an appearance before the media. The Spanish government confirmed that the detainees are not agents of the CNI “or any other state organization,” according to Foreign Affairs sources. “Spain categorically denies and rejects any suggestion of involvement in an operation of political destabilization in Venezuela,” the same sources indicate.
The Executive reported that the Spanish Embassy sent a verbal note to the Government of Venezuela requesting access to the detainees, in order to verify their identity and nationality and to know exactly what they are accused of. The relatives of the detainees also confirm that they do not belong to the CNI and, in an interview with El Mundo, the father of one of them indicated that his son was on vacation in the country.
Minister Albares’ message came a few hours after the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, called Edmundo González a “hero.” The departure from Venezuela of the opposition leader, who had been in the Dutch diplomatic offices in Caracas since July 29, occurred after eight intense days of conversations between the different parties – González and his closest entourage, and the Spanish and Venezuelan governments – to obtain approval from the government of Nicolas Maduro for González to board a plane of the Spanish Armed Forces to travel to Madrid, by virtue of the asylum granted by the government of Pedro Sánchez.
Bobbin lace, in which former President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero played a key role, seemed to please the parties involved this Sunday, September 8: the Venezuelan government got rid of González Urrutia and left the opposition in disarray; González Urrutia expressed his gratitude to the Spanish government for its welcome and Spain proved to be a “friendly” country for the Venezuelan opposition that, at the same time, was able to accept such a delicate operation with the Maduro administration.
But this calm would gradually turn into a growing storm whose outcome has not yet occurred.
Already on Sunday, the PP dedicated itself to accusing the government of being an “accomplice of the Bolivarian dictatorship” for bringing to Spain a person who had requested asylum, despite the fact that some of its leaders, such as Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had previously accused the government of collaborating with Maduro for not granting asylum to González Urrutia.
Then, the PP decided to emphasize that the true leader of the Venezuelan opposition was María Corina Machado, the one who “is not for sale”, to the detriment of González Urrutia, although it registered a PNL in Congress to recognize the latter as “president-elect” and, incidentally, put pressure on the government and impose a parliamentary defeat on it in addition to trying to exhaust the PSOE-Sumar coalition and the relations between the Executive and the rest of the left parliamentary allies – Podemos, EH Bildu, ERC, BNG -.
In just 72 hours, during which the Popular Party played a leading role, the understand cordially Relations between Madrid and Caracas, already strained due to Spain’s failure to recognize Nicolas Maduro’s victory on July 28, have degenerated into a diplomatic conflict.
On Tuesday morning, PNV spokesman Aitor Esteban announced his group’s positive vote for the PP’s proposal to recognize González Urrutia, which has political value although it is not binding. with this Yeah Basque nationalists, the PP’s words were already clear: the Spanish Congress of Deputies was preparing to align itself with Javier Milei’s own positions – beyond those defended by the EU and the United States – and approved on Wednesday a non-legal proposal from the Popular Party, which left the government in a minority and in which the Spanish government was invited to recognize González Urrutia as “president-elect.”
Escalation of the crisis
Hours after the vote, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, asked the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislative Chamber to approve a resolution urging the government of Nicolas Maduro to “break off” all types of relations with Spain.
Twenty-four hours later, on Thursday evening, the crisis had worsened further: Venezuela summoned its ambassador to Madrid for consultations while describing as “interference” certain statements by the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, in which she described Venezuela as a “dictatorship.”
On Thursday, in addition to Robles’ statements, Moncloa released in the morning some images of González Urrutia’s visit, where he was received by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, recently arrived from China, where he asked not to harden the European tariff policy.
In a context where a spiral is emerging that is widening day by day, next week does not seem to herald a de-escalation.
Feijóo’s PP has proposed itself as the champion of the Venezuelan opposition in Europe, as has been the case in the past, to the point of having appointed Leopoldo López, Sr., as a Member of the European Parliament. The party wants to take the hardest positions against Maduro in Brussels and, in this sense, a resolution similar to the PNL approved Wednesday in Congress will be approved this week in the European Parliament and voted on next Tuesday in the Senate. The demand is the same, namely the recognition of Gutiérrez Urrutia as the “elected and legitimate president” of Venezuela.
Tensions between Venezuela and Spain are increasing. And the right is using the crisis against the government.
