Alberto Núñez Feijóo demands the resignation of the Spanish foreign minister

The leader of the Popular Party of Spain, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, asked this Thursday the resignation of Chancellor Jose Manuel Albares after the coercion of the opposition leader Edmundo González at the Spanish embassy in Caracas. He also demanded explanations from the president of the government Pedro Sánchez and the replacement of the ambassador in Venezuela.

“The Spanish government has lied, Spanish diplomacy, an essential pillar of European diplomacy in Latin America, cannot be at the service of a dictatorial regime,” said.

Núñez Feijóo made the statement after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

The leader of the conservative PP, the main opposition party in Spain, considered that The Spanish ambassador to Venezuela “must be replaced, The foreign minister must resign and the Spanish prime minister must provide immediate explanations.”

“There can be no equidistance between dictatorship and democracy,” he said.

«In no way, without any excuse, can it be tolerated that in a Spanish embassy no one should be coerced, much less a representative of the Venezuelan people; and even less so for those who are the protagonists, Delcy and her brother, of human rights violations,” he said.

Núñez Feijóo appeared at the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association in Rome with the Italian Vice President and Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, to whom he asked several “rhetorical questions.”

“Can you imagine that two high-ranking officials of a dictatorship enter an Italian embassy to coerce the elected president of a country? “Can you imagine that this coercion was carried out with the knowledge of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister?” the Spanish politician asked.

González Urrutia: I signed under duress

Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia said on Wednesday that before leaving his country he met with representatives of Nicolás Maduro’s regime at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas and was “coerced” into signing a document.

González Urrutia arrived in Spain on September 8 to request political asylum after denouncing fraud in the elections held in July in his country.

The Spanish conservative opposition has accused Pedro Sánchez’s government of being “complicit” in the “coup d’état that has taken place in Venezuela,” in the words of Popular Party leader Esteban González Pons.

The Spanish government, according to sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has no relationship with any document or negotiation between Edmundo González Urrutia and the Venezuelan regime. In fact, Minister José Manuel Albares gave direct instructions to the ambassador of not to interfere in any actions that the opposition leader might undertake.

According to his explanations, when Edmundo González requested to be welcomed at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, “he was guaranteed that he could see or make any arrangements he decided to make in relation to his situation.”

Congress and Senate demand recognition for Edmundo González

The tension between Madrid and Caracas has worsened in recent weeks, after the Spanish Congress and Senate urged the Executive to recognize Edmundo González Urrutia as president-elect of Venezuela, a measure that has no legal significance but is a boost for the opposition presidential candidate.

In response, the Venezuelan Parliament will urge Nicolás Maduro on Thursday to “evaluate” the breaking of diplomatic and commercial relations with Spain.

Besides, Venezuela keeps two Spaniards detained who are accused of participating in an alleged plan against the Maduro government along with four other Americans and a Czech citizen.

Spain, in line with the European Union strategy, has demanded that Maduro present the minutes of the elections before recognizing the victory attributed to him by Venezuelan official electoral bodies.