Albares demands that PP apologize to the ambassador in Caracas but People’s Party insists on asking for his resignation

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has asked the People’s Party to “apologize” for the “slander and insults” launched at the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, Ramón Santos, and the “Spanish foreign service” as a whole, after the Venezuelan opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urritia, assured in a statement on Thursday night that he had not been “coerced by the Government of Spain or by the Spanish ambassador in Venezuela.” Despite this, the PP insisted on Friday on calling for Albares' resignation because González Urrutia's departure from Venezuela was "agreed" at the Embassy with the ambassador as a "witness." Edmundo González issued the statement after the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanded on Thursday the dismissal of the ambassador in Venezuela and the resignation of José Manuel Albares, and requested the urgent appearance of the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to explain the pressures and coercion that, according to him, the Venezuelan opposition candidate suffered in the Spanish Embassy by leaders of the Nicolás Maduro regime. In his opinion, there are no excuses or reasons why it can be tolerated that “in a Spanish Embassy anyone is coerced”, and even less “a representative of the Venezuelan people”. Specifically, González Urrutia, who has been exiled in Spain since September 8 to request political asylum, said on Wednesday (through a video posted on his social networks) that, during his stay at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, representatives of the Government of Nicolás Maduro made him sign, as a condition for receiving the safe conduct to leave the country, a document in which he accepted the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of his country to validate Maduro’s victory in the elections of July 28. In response to this information, the deputy general secretary of the PP for foreign affairs, Esteban González Pons, accused Sánchez’s Executive on Thursday of being a “necessary collaborator” of Maduro by allowing the Bolivarian regime to “coerce” Edmundo González in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas and denounced that “the Government of Spain is involved in the coup d’état that has occurred in Venezuela.” Amid the commotion, González Urrutia released a statement on Thursday night in which he assured that he had not been “coerced by the Government of Spain or by the Spanish ambassador in Venezuela, Ramón Santos.” “The diplomatic efforts carried out had the sole purpose of facilitating my departure from the country, without exerting any kind of pressure on me,” he continued. On the other hand, Maduro’s government has released an image in which the opposition leader is seen signing a letter in the presence of the Spanish ambassador, Maduro’s number two, his vice president Delcy Rodríguez, and the president of the National Assembly and brother of Dercy Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez. Sources from the Ministry have not yet clarified whether the Spanish authorities were aware of the coercion to which González Urrutia was subjected or the reasons for the ambassador’s presence in the aforementioned photo. Albares “I am saddened that the PP has forced Edmundo González, a 75-year-old man, to issue a statement at the last minute that makes clear the honorability of the Spanish foreign service,” Albares said on Friday during a meeting with journalists at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the minister, the PP leaders “insulted and slandered the Spanish foreign service, thousands of women and men who do their work every day, without interfering in internal affairs, in favor of the interests of Spain, in the protection of Spaniards and in humanitarian work.” “Twelve hours have already passed since Edmundo González issued his statement and the PP has still not apologized,” he warned. “The embassy and the ambassador, at all times, have offered the protection requested by Edmundo González, no one would have understood that he had been refused, no Spaniard or Venezuelan would have understood it,” he continued. “The Embassy in Caracas only offered protection to Edmundo González and guaranteed him a space, a quiet place, with freedom to meet whoever he wanted to meet and talk to whoever he wanted to talk to,” he said. “If we had followed what the PP suggested, Edmundo González, instead of being free, would be detained in Caracas,” he said. “Everything that happened around the arrival of Edmundo González to Spain was at the request of Edmundo González,” said the minister. “The entry into the residence, the arrival in Spain, the request for the right of asylum and any conversations that he may have had, and therefore I am not going to comment on it,” continued Albares, who therefore referred to the opposition candidate himself, the only one “authorized” to speak about all this. Regarding whether Ramón Santos was informed of the content of the document signed by González or whether he was present at the time of the signing, Albares assured that the ambassador “did not interfere in anything” because the Embassies do not get involved “in the internal politics of countries.” “He had clear and precise instructions to guarantee that protection, that tranquility of Edmundo González, that freedom to meet and talk or not talk,” he said. On the other hand, sources from the Foreign Ministry recalled that “Minister Albares asked Congress to appear at his own request to explain the transfer to Spain of Edmundo González on the first working day after the arrival of the Venezuelan leader in our country.” “At this time, the minister is waiting for Congress to confirm a date,” they added. Indeed, the State Secretariat for Relations with the Parliament submitted on September 9, on behalf of the minister, a request for an appearance “to give an account of the Government’s decision to grant asylum to the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia”. The date of the appearance is set by the Foreign Affairs Committee in contact with the Government, but, according to sources consulted by the Europa Press agency, the president of the committee, the socialist Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, has indicated that the minister has no free date on October 4, so it is taken for granted that he will appear on that day. PP Despite all this, the PP insisted on Friday on asking for Albares' resignation because he said that he had not negotiated anything with the regime of Nicolás Maduro and, however, they emphasize, the departure from Venezuela of the opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia was "agreed" in the Spanish Embassy with the ambassador as a "witness" of the "coercion," according to the Efe agency. "It is the Government that has to give explanations of what the Rodríguez family were doing, no more and no less, in the ambassador's residence," declared the secretary general of the PP, Cuca Gamarra.

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