<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Jesús Silva, Spain's ambassador to Venezuela between 2017 and 2020 and who sheltered opposition leader Leopoldo López to avoid his arrest by Nicolás Maduro's regime, has died at the age of 63, according to the Spanish Embassy in Mexico.</strong></h4> "From the Spanish Embassy in Mexico, we express our deepest condolences for the death of the Spanish Consul in Guadalajara (Mexico), our colleague Jesús Silva Fernández," the Spanish representation wrote on social media. "We stand in solidarity with his family, friends, and the rest of the Spanish diplomatic corps during this difficult time," it added. Jesús Silva was appointed Spanish ambassador to Venezuela by Mariano Rajoy's administration in March 2017. In January 2018, Silva was expelled for three months by the Maduro government in retaliation for a package of sanctions announced by the EU against leaders of the regime. The ambassador returned to Caracas in April of that year after the two governments reached an agreement to begin a process of normalizing relations. In March 2019, Silva was among the dozen ambassadors who received the then-president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, in Caracas. Guaidó, whom Spain and other countries had recognized as the country's interim president, was also present. In late April 2019, Silva welcomed opposition figure Leopoldo López to the Embassy residence, hours after he had been released from house arrest by loyalist military personnel. López remained at the Embassy for over a year before being transferred to Spain in November 2020. In June 2020, Maduro threatened the ambassador with diplomatic sanctions, accusing him of "complicity" with Leopoldo López, while also expelling the EU ambassador to the country. Jesús Silva was relieved of his post in November 2020 by the then ambassador to Cuba and later Secretary of State for Ibero-America, Juan Fernández Trigo. However, Fernández Trigo did not take over the Embassy in Venezuela as an ambassador, but rather as a Chargé d'Affaires with letters from the Cabinet. At the time, relations between Madrid and Caracas were going through a very delicate period, after Spain failed to recognize Nicolás Maduro's reelection in the 2018 elections. <h5><strong>Leopoldo López: “He knew how to handle the pressures of the dictatorship without giving an inch”</strong></h5> “Today, my great friend Jesús Silva, former Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, passed away in Guadalajara,” Leopoldo López wrote on social media, attaching a photo with Silva having a barbecue during his stay at the Embassy. “I met Jesús personally on April 30, 2019, when I escaped from house arrest and managed to reach the Spanish Embassy,” he continued. <img class="alignnone wp-image-128105 size-full" src="https://thediplomatinspain.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Lopez-Silva.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="422" /> “For a year and a half, I spent time with him and his incredible wife, Sara. During that entire period, I witnessed Jesús as a great diplomat, a lover of his country, his profession, and especially of democracy and freedom. He knew how to handle the pressures of the dictatorship without compromising his principles. He knew how to stay informed and remain an active diplomat,” he recalled. Jesús Silva was awarded the World Jurist Association (WJA) Medal of Honor in May 2022 for “his courageous defense of the values of freedom, human rights, and democracy, under extreme circumstances, during his tenure as Spain's ambassador to Venezuela.”
