The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has told Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González that Spain is working ‘in favour of democracy and dialogue’ in Venezuela, a day after the Congress of Deputies urged the Executive to recognise him as president-elect.
Sánchez received González at the Moncloa Palace this morning, in a meeting that the government had not included in the official agenda, five days after González landed in Madrid in a Spanish Air Force plane after leaving Venezuela of his own free will and with the intention of requesting asylum, reports Europa Press.
‘I warmly welcome Edmundo González to our country, whom we welcome as a sign of Spain’s humanitarian commitment and solidarity with Venezuelans,’ Sánchez said in a message on the social network X, which he accompanied with images in which the two are seen strolling through the gardens of Moncloa and chatting.
‘Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela’, said the President of the Government, who the day before had defended the need for the EU to maintain its “unity” on this issue in order to have the capacity to “mediate” and thus be able to bring about a solution to the Venezuelan crisis.
In a statement issued after the meeting with Sánchez, Edmundo González – who arrived in Madrid last Sunday on board an Air Force plane after leaving Venezuela, at his own request, to request asylum in Spain – said that he had had “a very pleasant and interesting conversation” with the President of the Government, whom he thanked for his welcome in Spain and conveyed his “recognition for his interest in working for the recovery of democracy and respect for Human Rights in our country.”
During the interview, the statement continued, Edmundo González expressed to Sánchez his “determination to continue the fight to enforce the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28 by more than eight million voters.”
The Government has assured that the arrival of González to Spain, who spent a few days in the residence of the Spanish ambassador after remaining a refugee since June 29 in the Embassy of the Netherlands, has not been negotiated with Caracas and that there has been no compensation. In this regard, both Sánchez and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, have stressed that Spain’s position has not changed and is to demand the publication of all the minutes of the presidential elections of July 28 and not recognize the “supposed victory” of Nicolás Maduro.
The meeting took place a day after the Congress of Deputies approved, with the vote against the PSOE and with the support of Vox, PNV, UPN and CC, a Non-Law Proposal of the PP in which the Government is asked to recognize González Urrutia as the elected president of Venezuela. The Venezuelan National Assembly responded immediately with the approval of a resolution in which the president, Nicolás Maduro, is asked to break diplomatic relations with Spain. The Government has shielded itself in the fact that the position of the Twenty-Seven is not to do so for now and has argued that there is a “reasonable time” to achieve a negotiated solution before January 10, when the winner of the elections must take office.
