Why does Pedro Sánchez’s government not recognize Edmundo González as elected president of Venezuela?

The declaration of businessman Victor Aldama before the judge gives essential keys to understand why the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, does not recognize Edmundo González as elected president of Venezuela, despite the fact that the Congress of Deputies, the Senate and the European Parliament have already done so, and that the government of Spain itself recognizes that his candidacy was the most voted.

Four months after the Venezuelan elections, in which Edmundo González devastatedby obtaining 67% of the votes, Moncloa continues to resist recognizing the president-elect. To gain time, Sánchez has delayed his decision until the end of the year, arguing that Venezuela’s presidential replacement will not occur until January 10.

Pedro Sánchez’s attitude is better understood after listening Aldama’s story before the judge. As he explained, The Maduro regime “felt betrayed” by the Sánchez government, when on February 4, 2019 it officially recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. Aldama alluded to “a series of agreements they had with the government of Spain,” but did not specify What agreements are those that bind Sánchez? with the Venezuelan government.

What relations did Víctor Aldama have with Venezuela?

The businessman explained that he had relations in Venezuela, both with the Maduro regime and with Henry Ramos Allup’s party, Democratic Action, which was linked to Guaidó at that time. For this reason, he was asked to intervene in Venezuela as link between the governments of Sánchez and Maduro and, to that end, he was provided with a letter of credentials signed by the Minister of Transportation, José Luis Ábalos.

With that mandate, and always according to his testimony, Aldama traveled to Venezuela and gave Guaidó a letter in which the Spanish government announced that it would support him. According to the commissioner, this support was due to the fact that Sánchez needed support from parties, such as Democratic Action, because He aspired to preside over the Socialist International.

The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. Photo FEDERICO PARRA/AFP

Why did Delcy Rodríguez travel to Spain?

However, when Spain’s official recognition of Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela was made public, Maduro’s government “gets seriously angry”According to Aldama: “They tell them that they are not going to allow them to ignore them or make fun of them, and they tell them very clearly: either they stop recognizing this man as interim president or relations between countries will end.” From that moment on, Sánchez’s government began to back down and to refer to Guaidó as leader of the Venezuelan opposition.

According to Aldama, “the anger of the Venezuelan government” over the recognition of Guaidó was one of the triggers for Delcy Rodríguez’s tripvice president of Venezuela, to Spain. Although she herself warned that she was prohibited from entering European territory, Rodríguez was invited to Spain and, according to Aldama, she rented a chalet in El Viso so that she could stay with total discretion. Said chalet, according to the businessman, was reviewed by the Police and CNI, for the security of the Venezuelan embassy and for the security of the vice president herself.

They had organized a dinner in which Delcy Rodríguez would be

Furthermore, Aldama He reported that a dinner had been organizedwhich was initially going to be held in a restaurant, although it was later going to be moved to the chalet for safety reasons and was finally not held anywhere. Pedro Sánchez and the ministers were invited to that dinner Grande-Marlaska, Teresa Ribera, Salvador Illa, María Jesús Montero and José Luis Ábalos.

Delcy Rodríguez was also going to meet in Madrid with various businessmen and the State Attorney General to address the extradition of Pollo Carvajal, requested by Venezuela. According to Aldama, “it was an organized trip to which the official status could not be given because the vice president was sanctioned.

However, two hours before the plane landed, “the alerts went off” when Foreign Affairs announced that Rodríguez was sanctioned and could not set foot on European territory. And, although an attempt was made to return the flight to Caracas, ended up landing in Barajaswhere the vice president spent five hours with her entourage and with Ábalos, Aldama and Koldo García, always according to Aldama’s testimony. Given the impossibility of staying in Spain and returning to Caracas on the same plane, because the crew had completed the permitted flight hours, Rodríguez ended up boarding a plane bound for Qatar.