The Diplomat
Thousands of people participated yesterday in the various demonstrations and rallies held in thirty Spanish cities, following the call made worldwide in favor of freedom in Venezuela, against the repression practiced by the Bolivarian regime and to demand the publication of the minutes of the elections of July 28.
More than three hundred cities around the world, including towns in Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, held demonstrations yesterday, supporting the one held in Caracas with the presence of opposition leaders – presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado – to denounce what they consider electoral fraud, after Nicolás Maduro declared himself the winner of the elections.
In front of a crowd of protesters and amid a large police deployment, María Corina Machado said that “the time has come to collect, that every vote is respected”, words that were chanted by her followers with cries of “Freedom”, while they held banners and Venezuelan flags.
In Madrid, the largest concentration took place in Puerta del Sol, with numerous Venezuelans and Spaniards demanding a “Venezuela without dictatorships” and chanting cries of “freedom, freedom”. The event was attended by PP leaders, headed by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who took the floor to, among other things, criticise the Spanish Government for “not always having been there” in defence of freedom in Venezuela and to denounce the attitude of the former President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, of whom she said that “he has a lot to keep quiet”.
PP initiative in Congress
Meanwhile, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, announced, in statements to Europa Press, that her party will put to a vote at the first plenary session of Congress in September an initiative for Spain to pronounce itself on the elections in Venezuela on July 28 and recognize the victory of the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, without waiting for the position adopted by the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
In this way, the PP intends that Spain, “beyond Pedro Sánchez”, defend “democracy in Venezuela and the electoral result that democracies around the world are recognizing and demanding.” A position, Gamarra clarified, that is compatible with continuing “demanding transparency” and Maduro making the minutes public.
The non-legislative proposal has serious options of being approved in light of the positions shown by the parliamentary groups, since not only the PP and Vox advocate recognizing the victory of the opposition, but also parliamentary partners of the Government such as the PNV or Coalición Canaria.
The ‘popular’ leader criticized the role of the former president of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who has acted as an international observer of the Venezuelan elections, reproaching him for not having condemned “the repression that has been experienced since the day of the elections in Venezuela.”
Questioned about the reason for this “silence” of the former socialist leader and whether she suspects that there are particular interests behind it, Gamarra said that “what is clear” is that this silence “separates him from the great international consensus.” “That only leads us to think badly,” she added.
Similarly, she charged against the Executive, maintaining that “the commitments that Zapatero has with Maduro” are those that “condition and keep Pedro Sánchez imprisoned.” “What does Rodríguez Zapatero owe Maduro that he is even conditioning the response of the Spanish government?” he asked.
Gamarra said that Zapatero “will have to explain himself” in the European Parliament in September, at the request of the European People’s Party (EPP) “at the behest of the Spanish PP.”
