The Diplomat
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has replaced Jorge Arreaza as foreign minister with Félix Plasencia, a friend of former Spanish transport minister José Luis Ábalos, who was implicated in the so-called “Delcygate” affair.
Plasencia, who currently holds the post of ambassador to China, was Minister of Tourism and Foreign Trade when, in January 2020, Venezuela’s Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez passed through Barajas airport, despite the EU sanction that prevented her transit through European territory. And her meeting with Ábalos.
Plasencia was in Madrid to take part in FITUR and also met Ábalos, with whom he has been friends for years. In fact, it was this meeting that the Spanish minister initially used to justify his presence at the airport coinciding with the arrival of Delcy Rodríguez’s plane.
Félix Plasencia, who has held various diplomatic posts, is considered to be a man of Delcy Rodríguez’s full confidence.
