Edmundo Gonzalez Left for Spain Voluntarily. No One Coerced Him
Spain’s FM Jose Manuel Albares. X/ @daniel_ech19093
September 20, 2024 Hour: 10:32 am
Spain had nothing to do with any negotiation between Edmundo Gonzalez and the Bolivarian government, FM Albares stressed.
On Friday, Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares assured that the Spanish government did not in any way coerce former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez to leave Venezuela and travel to Spain as an asylum seeker.
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Previously, the Spanish diplomat had asked the leader of the far-right Popular Party (PP), Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, to disavow the slanderous statements made by MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons, who accused the Spanish government of forcing Edmundo Gonzalez to sign a letter recognizing the legitimacy of President Nicolas Maduro’s victory in the July 28 elections.
“I demand that Mr. Feijoo disavow the MEP who has slandered Spain and accused Spain of things that are absurd and extremely defamatory to our country,” Albares told the press after attending a meeting in Brussels.
On Thursday, the right-wing Gonzalez Pons said that the Spanish government had been a “necessary accomplice” in the “coup d’état that has taken place in Venezuela.” He also pointed to former President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as the “mastermind” of the operation. Echoing these speculations, the following day, PP leader Feijoo called for the resignation of the Spanish Foreign Minister.
Albares asked the far-right Popular Party to respect the decision made by Edmundo Gonzalez and insisted that “Spain has absolutely nothing to do with any type of negotiation or document that may have existed between Edmundo Gonzalez and the Venezuelan government.”
“The Spanish ambassador had precise instructions not to interfere with Edmundo Gonzalez’s freedom to speak, manage, and meet with whomever he deemed necessary so that the decision he made was truly his own,” said Foreign Minister Albares.
In recent weeks, diplomatic tensions between Madrid and Caracas have worsened, as Spanish lawmakers have demanded that the government of Pedro Sanchez recognize Edmundo Gonzalez as Venezuelan president. In response to this interference, the Bolivarian Parliament asked President Maduro to “evaluate” the possibility of breaking diplomatic and commercial relations with Spain.
teleSUR/ JF Sources: RTVE – EFE
