The situation of Andrés Martínez Adasme, 32, and José María Basoa Valdovinos, 35, the two Spaniards arrested in Venezuela and linked by Chavismo to the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), remains unclear. This Monday, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it “continues to demand official and verified information from the Venezuelan authorities on the arrest of two Spaniards, as well as clarification of the charges against them.”
Martínez Adasme and Basoa Valdovinos, residents of Bilbao, were arrested in Puerto Ayacucho, where according to their families they were spending their holidays. On Monday, September 9, after losing track of them, their relatives reported their disappearance on social networks and filed a complaint. They flatly deny, as does the Government, that they worked for the secret service. The Minister of Interior and Justice of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, from the hardest wing of Chavismo, implicated them in a confusing conspiracy plot about a purchase of explosives together with alleged members of the Vente Venezuela party of the opposition leader María Corina Machado, and an alleged plot to assassinate a Chavista mayor. Without presenting evidence of the accusations, he has broadcast their police report photos on television. He claimed that they were in an “irregular situation, taking photos” when they were captured.
The Spanish Embassy in Caracas is in contact with the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, to which it has informed that it will provide diplomatic and consular protection for its nationals. The Venezuelan authorities have not offered further information on the case. Nicolás Maduro raised the tension after the negotiation that led to the departure into exile of the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. The veteran diplomat had denounced fraud in the elections of July 28, based on the official minutes collected by his witnesses, according to which he won by more than 30 points.
González Urrutia’s arrival in Madrid was followed by pressure from the Spanish Congress, which is demanding his recognition as president-elect. Pedro Sánchez is in line with the European Union, but the proposal alone sparked the anger of the head of the Venezuelan Parliament, Nicolás Maduro’s main political operator, who called for breaking off diplomatic and commercial relations. The waters calmed down after a meeting between Foreign Minister Yván Gil and the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, Ramón Santos, and even allowed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to meet with representatives of Repsol. These movements were followed last weekend by the new crisis over the two detainees.
Pedro Sánchez spoke on Monday about Venezuela in a meeting in Congress with PSOE deputies, senators and MEPs, but did not mention the case of the detainees. He reaffirmed once again his commitment to the restoration of democracy in Venezuela and insisted on demanding that Maduro publish the electoral records to verify, in an “impartial and independent” way, the results that attribute his supposed victory in the presidential elections to him.
A few weeks ago, Venezuelan security forces also detained a U.S. military officer whom Cabello has implicated in alleged plots to remove Maduro from power by force. A State Department spokesman said that he has “Unconfirmed reports of two more US citizens detained in Venezuela”, after Caracas reported that in addition to two Spaniards, three Americans and a Czech had also been arrested in connection with this case. The United States has long issued warnings to its citizens not to visit Venezuela, which have now been joined by other countries asking them to refrain from visiting this destination and, if they are already in the country, to stay away from demonstrations.
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