What did Pedro Sánchez say after meeting with Edmundo González?
Pedro Sánchez, President of the Spanish Government, assured this Thursday, after A conversation with the opposition leader in exile Edmundo González Urrutiathat his country will continue working in favor of democracy and the fundamental rights of Venezuelans.
“Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela,” he said in a message published on X, which he accompanied with images in which he appears walking and talking with Edmundo González and his daughter Carolina González in the gardens of the Moncloa Palace.
Pedro Sánchez received Edmundo González at the Moncloa Palace, one day after Congress urged his government to recognize him as the winner of the presidential elections in Venezuela.
Moncloa sources confirmed to Efe that the meeting took place behind closed doors.
In the message, Sánchez reiterated that by granting asylum to the Venezuelan opposition Spain demonstrates its “humanitarian commitment and solidarity” with Venezuelans.
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
González Urrutia arrived in Madrid on Sunday on a Spanish Air Force plane to request political asylum after denouncing fraud in the presidential elections held in July in Venezuela. Since then the Spanish government is under pressure from the opposition to recognise him as the elected president of Venezuela.
On Wednesday, the Congress of Deputies approved a proposal from the opposition demanding that it recognize him as the winner of the elections and president of Venezuela.
Presented by the conservative Popular Party (PP) and approved by a vote of 177 deputies to 164, the proposal also calls on Sánchez to “lead the recognition of Edmundo González in European institutions and international bodies, with the aim of ensuring that he takes office as the new president of Venezuela on January 10, 2025.”
Sánchez, however, reiterated the Executive’s position in China: “The Spanish government has been clear since the elections. We have asked for the publication of the minutes, we have not recognized Nicolás Maduro’s victory,” he explained.
“And we are doing something very important: working for unity in the European Union so that this work for the unity of the European Union allows us to have room for mediation between now and the end of the year so that we can find a solution that conveys the democratic will expressed at the polls by the Venezuelan people,” he insisted.
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