Albares insists Delcy Rodríguez will be able to attend the Ibero-American Summit despite European sanctions

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares insisted this Monday that Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, will be able to attend the 30th Ibero-American Summit, to be held next November in Madrid, despite EU sanctions that prevent her entry into any member state. The minister's remarks coincide with Rodríguez's presence in The Hague to defend Venezuela's position before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its territorial dispute with Guyana over the Essequibo region. "This is not the first time Delcy Rodríguez has visited the European Union," Albares stated in Brussels during his participation in the European Union Foreign Affairs Council (EUFC). “In this very building, right here, from where I'm speaking now, she was at the European Union-CELAC summit during the Spanish Presidency, in the same room as all the presidents and prime ministers of the European Union, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the Council, and the High Representative,” he recalled. “So, there was no problem,” he added. According to Albares, during his conversation this Sunday with his Dutch counterpart, Tom Berendsen, to discuss coordination in the hantavirus response, Berendsen confirmed that he was “going to meet with her in the Netherlands” and that the Prime Minister had attended the ICJ “as usual.” “We, obviously, like the rest of the countries, as the European Union did during the EU-CELAC summit, invite the person who holds international representation and attends international forums and the United Nations from each country we invite to the Ibero-American Summit. We don't choose who governs a country,” he continued. “What we want is for the Summit to be a success, for all countries to attend at the highest level, including Venezuela,” he affirmed. “The fact that Delcy Rodríguez is in the Netherlands as usual, as she was in 2023, at a meeting between CELAC and the entire European Union, demonstrates that there's no need to overcomplicate things,” he declared. Both “when she attended the EU-CELAC summit” and during her current visit to the Netherlands, the same sanctions were in place against the acting president, he recalled. “Therefore, I don't see why it would be any different in the case of Spain,” he concluded. During his recent visit to the Dominican Republic, Albares confirmed that Spain will invite Delcy Rodríguez to the 30th Ibero-American Summit. “Right now, we are reaching out to all the countries, and we will proceed as we always do: we invite whoever holds the international representation of each country,” the minister told reporters. “This Madrid Summit of the Americas, in that sense, will be no different from others,” he warned. “The Pro Tempore Secretariat does not change the rules,” he added. A few days later, the European Parliament demanded that EU sanctions against those “responsible for human rights violations” in Venezuela be maintained “until measures are taken toward a peaceful transition to democracy,” including the “unconditional release of all political prisoners.” Among the sanctioned officials is Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed the role of interim president after the US attack in Caracas last January, which resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Last February, following the approval of the Amnesty Law in Venezuela, Albares proposed to his EU colleagues the lifting of sanctions against Delcy Rodríguez, which were first adopted in 2016 and entail a ban on her entry into the EU and the freezing of her assets in Europe. According to the Spanish government, this restriction has exceptions, and therefore the acting president could attend the Ibero-American Summit in Madrid, to be held on November 4 and 5 under the slogan “Ibero-America. Together we build our community. Together we project it into the future and into the world.”

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