The Spanish right managed this Wednesday (11) for Congress to recognize the former anti-Chavista candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as president-elect of Venezuela, while the head of the Spanish government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, maintains his commitment to a negotiated solution so that the will of the polls is established.
The crisis in Venezuela and the arrival of González Urrutia in Spain, where he has been since Sunday (8) to request political asylum, has fully entered the Spanish political agenda, to the point of revealing the differences between the progressive and nationalist parties that make up the bloc that supports the Sánchez government.
The conservative Popular Party (PP), leader of the opposition, managed to push its proposal forward with 177 votes in favor, coming from the right and nationalist groups, including the Basques, usual allies of the socialists, who remained in the minority with their partners on the left.
Although the non-legislative proposal approved today has no legal significance, it is a coup d’état.
The initiative also calls for an end to the repression of protests, the release of political prisoners and contributions to the personal security of opposition leader María Corina Machado and González Urrutia himself, while also requesting that the Spanish Executive lead the recognition of the opponent in European institutions, with the aim of him taking office as president of Venezuela on January 10, 2025.
The vote took place after a tough debate that lasted for hours on Tuesday and in which the right accused Sánchez’s Executive of not recognizing González Urrutia to favor dictator Nicolás Maduro, while hundreds of Venezuelans demonstrated in front of Parliament demanding the recognition of the anti-Chavista candidate.
European unity
Sánchez, absent from the debate because he ends an official trip to China today, explained that Spain will not recognize González Urrutia as president-elect at this time, but will work for unity in the European Union (EU) that allows a margin for mediation until the end of the year in search of a solution.
The president of the Spanish government reinforced that the asylum for the anti-Chavista leader “is nothing more than a gesture of humanity, of humanitarian commitment by Spanish society and the government towards a person who unfortunately suffers persecution and repression.”
Furthermore, he highlighted that the Spanish government did not recognize Maduro’s victory and requested at all times the publication of the electoral records in Caracas.
The Spanish Parliament’s decision came as a bucket of cold water on Maduro, who on Tuesday criticized Madrid and asked his executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to show Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares the 1811 Independence Act “so that he knows” that the Caribbean country is independent from Spain.
Chavista institutions declared Maduro the winner of the July elections, although they refused to show the electoral records that the international community demands and that, according to the opposition, show a resounding victory for González Urrutia.
In a message read yesterday by his daughter in Madrid, González Urrutia called on the international community to redouble its commitment to democracy in Venezuela and promised to fight “until the end.”
The deadline to negotiate a solution to the Venezuelan crisis ends at the end of the year, as the South American country’s new president is due to take office in January.
#Spain #Congress #recognizes #Gonzálezs #victory #Venezuela
