Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia on Thursday, who arrived in Madrid to seek asylum, amid growing tensions that have put relations between the two countries in jeopardy.
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“I warmly welcome Edmundo González Urrutia to our country, whom we welcome by showing Spain’s humanitarian commitment and solidarity with the Venezuelans.”wrote Pedro Sánchez on the social network X, with a video in which both of them are seen, along with the daughter of the Venezuelan opposition leader, walking through the gardens of the Moncloa palace, the seat of the presidency.
“Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela,” added Sánchez, who received González Urrutia five days after the latter landed on Sunday in the Spanish capital on a Spanish Air Force flight, after a month in hiding.
I warmly welcome you to our country. @EdmundoGUwhom we welcome, demonstrating Spain’s humanitarian commitment and solidarity with Venezuelans.
Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/EoTRvYPJSq
— Pedro Sanchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 12, 2024
At the meeting, González Urrutia thanked Sánchez for his “interest” in “the recovery of democracy” in Venezuela, and guaranteed him His “determination to continue the struggle to uphold the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28 by more than 8 million voters”he said in a message sent to journalists.
Sánchez, whose government, in line with the position of the European Union, demands that the electoral records of the Venezuelan elections be made public, but without recognizing González Urrutia’s victory, had expressed his desire to receive the opposition leader after his return from a tour of China, which occurred early Thursday morning.
Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, was proclaimed re-elected for a third six-year term by the National Electoral Council (CNE), amid allegations of fraud by the opposition, which claims that his opponent won the election.
In a statement released through his X network profile after arriving in Spain, González Urrutia “deeply” thanked the Spanish government for welcoming him, a gratitude that was reiterated by his daughter Carolina when reading a message from her father during a rally held on Wednesday in front of Congress, when the PP initiative to recognize the victory of the anti-Chavez leader was being debated.
Rupture?
The meeting on Thursday took place with relations between the two countries in suspense, after the head of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, proposed on Wednesday to break diplomatic, consular and commercial relations with the European country.
“Let all representatives of the delegation of the government of the Kingdom of Spain and all consulates and all consuls leave here and we will bring our own people from there!” cried Rodríguez, who asked the Legislative Foreign Policy Commission to approve a resolution, which would then have to be ratified in the plenary session of the chamber.
Rodriguez reacted like this to a proposal approved on Wednesday by the Spanish Congress, at the request of the right-wing opposition and opposed by Sánchez’s Socialist Party, to ask the Government to recognize González Urrutia’s victory on July 28.
The proposal is not binding, so it does not oblige Sánchez, who from China had already defended granting asylum to the opposition candidate as a “gesture of humanity” by his government “towards people who unfortunately are suffering persecution and repression.”
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