The Diplomat PSOE and PP yestereday engaged in an exchange of criticism over the trip of a dozen 'popular' parliamentarians to Venezuela on the occasion of the elections in that country. The PP parliamentarians were expelled from Venezuela by the Bolivarian authorities as soon as they set foot in the Caracas airport last Friday and had to return a few hours later to Madrid. Yesterday, the PSOE demanded, in a thread on its account on the social network X, "immediate explanations" of who paid for the trip of the delegation, which they described as a "show" and "a quick round trip," reports Europa Press. «Despite the fact that Venezuela is immersed in an electoral process in which there are already hundreds of international observers from different countries in the country, these PP officials decided to get on the plane, knowing that they did not have the appropriate authorization, to perform a ridiculous performance and have to return on the next flight», says the PSOE. In addition, it stresses that once «the embarrassment of the videos uploaded to social networks by these officials and the sad image they have offered has passed, it remains to be seen how each and every one of the plane tickets have been paid for, and if any of them have been paid for with public money». «The tax money of all Spaniards is not available to the PP for its private trips», stresses the PSOE, which recalls that the PP representatives were not part of any delegation of any Spanish institution, and they had been informed that they did not have permission to constitute themselves as observers by their own decision. "If the trips of these PP officials have been paid for with public money, we would be faced with a spurious use of the taxes of all Spaniards for an absurd photograph at the Caracas airport. An image that may have cost the public coffers very dearly," adds the PSOE. For this reason, the socialists demand "immediate explanations, proof of payment and that the PP confirm, without leaving room for doubt, that it has not used public money on this trip anywhere." The PP responded by demanding, in turn, explanations from the PSOE about the cost of the trips on Falcon by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, as well as that of his wife, Begoña Gómez, to Paris last weekend to attend the Olympic Games. The party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo asks the socialists to detail "how much public money" Sánchez's trips on Falcon cost for trips "that could easily be made by car." They also criticise him for using the official plane to attend party events, "an unacceptable Sanchista custom". They also ask for explanations on how much the trip of Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, to Paris to see the Olympic Games cost, "in her capacity as President of the Government". Finally, the PP demands that the PSOE details whether the stays of the former President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in Venezuela "are financed with the taxes of all Spaniards". "The PSOE once again demonstrates its cynicism by talking about public money, when they are dabbling in corruption", they conclude.
