Spain’s defense minister describes Venezuela as a dictatorship – grist to the mill of an already simmering conflict between Caracas and Madrid. This has diplomatic consequences.
In response to a critical statement by Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, Venezuela has summoned its ambassador in Madrid for consultations. At the same time, the Spanish ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Caracas on Friday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil said in a Telegram post.
Robles referred to Venezuelans in exile at a book launch in Madrid on Thursday, saying that the men and women had to leave their country “precisely because of the dictatorship they are experiencing.” Gil described the Spanish minister’s comments in his post as “insolent, disturbing and rude.”
Spain’s Foreign Minister takes a milder tone
In his initial reaction, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares played down the controversy. The measures decided by Caracas were “sovereign decisions that every state is entitled to.” He stressed in an interview with the state radio station RNE that he wanted to “maintain the best possible relations” with Venezuela. Apart from that, there was “nothing to comment on.”
Unlike his cabinet colleague Robles, Albares refused to describe Venezuela as a dictatorship. When asked by the interviewer, he replied that foreign ministers are not experts in constitutional law and are therefore “the last people who should make such classifications.”
Opposition candidate González travels to Spain
Diplomatic relations between Venezuela, which has been ruled by authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro for eleven years, and many Western countries have deteriorated further following the presidential election at the end of July. The party-line electoral authority declared Maduro the winner. The country’s opposition, however, spoke of electoral fraud and claimed victory for its candidate Edmundo González.
He had travelled to Spain last weekend and applied for political asylum there. An arrest warrant had previously been issued against him in Venezuela for charges including sabotage, conspiracy and usurpation of office.
The United States and several Latin American countries recognize González as the election winner, and the European Union also doubts the official result. On Thursday, the US government imposed sanctions on several of Maduro’s confidants, whom it accuses of obstructing a transparent electoral process.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
