<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares will appear before the full Congress this Thursday, January 15, to report on Spain's position regarding the situation in Venezuela, just two weeks after the US military assault on Caracas that culminated in the overthrow and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.</strong></h4> Albares will appear in this extraordinary session at his own request and at the request of the Mixed, Republican, Euskal Herria Bildu, and Plurinational Sumar parliamentary groups, the latter being the junior partner in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government. Since the US military assault on Venezuela, which took place on January 3 on the orders of President Donald Trump, the Spanish government has insisted on defending "the validity of an international order based on rules" and has warned that the US intervention represents "a very worrying precedent for peace in the region and the world." The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned on the same day as the assault that, just as “Spain did not recognize the Maduro regime” after the July 2024 presidential elections, it would also “not recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence.” Likewise, Spain’s representative to the UN, Héctor Gómez, warned two days later, before the United Nations Security Council, that the United States’ military intervention in Venezuela “constitutes a very worrying precedent for peace in the region and the world.” For his part, Albares warned around the same time that the armed assault against Venezuela was “an action clearly contrary to international law” and that “the use of violent means and force must be completely excluded” from foreign policy, because “it sets a very dangerous precedent for the future.” On January 9, Pedro Sánchez spoke with the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, and with the opposition leader and self-proclaimed “president-elect,” Edmundo González Urrutia, to express his desire to “support the country in this new stage.” Meanwhile, Albares held a telephone conversation with the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, with whom he also discussed the situation in Venezuela. <h5><strong>PP and Sumar</strong></h5> Two days after the attack on Caracas, the president of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, described the US intervention in Venezuela as “historic” and accused the Spanish government of having “abandoned its diplomatic resources and moral leadership to confront the tyranny of Maduro,” whom, “on the contrary, it has given time and excuses.” “We have clearly stated that Edmundo González must be recognized as the president-elect of Venezuela,” Feijóo declared this Wednesday, January 14, on the “Ana Rosa Program” on Telecinco. “Delcy Rodríguez is not the future of Venezuela, and democratic elections must be held,” he added. On the same day as the military assault, Donald Trump announced that the United States would remain in Venezuela as long as necessary to “guide the country toward a safe and proper transition.” When asked about the possibility of opposition leader María Corina Machado becoming president of Venezuela, Trump responded that “it would be very difficult” because “she doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.” For the time being, Maduro has been replaced by the former vice president and current acting president, Delcy Rodríguez. For his part, Sumar warned in a statement, also on the day of the assault, that the US attacks constitute “a very serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations, an unjustified unilateral aggression, and an act of imperialist piracy against a member state of the United Nations,” and urged the Spanish government to condemn these attacks. Also on that same day, the parliamentary groups of Sumar, ERC, Bildu, Podemos and BNG requested the appearance in the Plenary of Congress of José Manuel Albares to report on the position of the Spanish Government "in the face of the serious attack by the US on Venezuela, violating international law and the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people."
