The National Assembly of Venezuela, with a Chavista majority, has decided to approve this Tuesday a new request to ask the president, Nicolás Maduro, to break diplomatic, consular and commercial relations with Spain. It is the second time that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has processed a motion of this nature in less than a month. The deterioration of relations between Venezuela and Spain—as well as with most Latin American countries—has become evident after the results of the presidential elections of July 28, which have been questioned by almost all international bodies, including United Nations. The electoral authority declared Maduro the winner without showing the detailed records, so the majority interpretation is that, since there was an express desire to hide them, the winner was the opponent Edmundo González.
The text that includes the petition reads the following: “[España] “It is giving shelter to several criminals, thieves and murderers from Venezuela, with pending accounts with justice, such as Leopoldo López, Antonio Ledezma, Dinorah Figuera, Luisa Ortega Díaz and Enzo Franchini.” All of them are opposition figures or disenchanted Chavistas who have sought refuge in Europe to avoid political persecution. The call from the Venezuelan Parliament is not binding, since this is a decision of the executive branch, but the speech given by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, Maduro’s right-hand man and qualified political operator, suggests that it is an option that At least, it has been seriously considered by the high government.
In fact, the agenda of the legislative session on Tuesday was modified at the last minute to open a new discussion in which new criticisms were opened against the Government and the Spanish State. The ruling party has been especially irritated with the reception given in Spain to Edmundo González Urrutia, who was forced into exile by Chavismo, to whom he has been treated, almost unanimously, as a winning candidate and president-elect. Rodríguez sought, in particular, to settle accounts with what was stated by Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy – not Spanish -, who also expressed his disbelief at the veracity and transparency of the electoral results that granted Maduro his third re-election.
A few days ago, Borrell commented on the fact that Jennie Lincoln, from the Carter Center, had appeared at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) with the originals of the electoral records posted on a web page by the command of Edmundo González , and that showed a broad victory in favor of the opposition. Lincoln affirmed that these were true, and that the victory of the opposition candidate in last July’s elections was evident. “We do not consider Maduro a democratically elected president, and those minutes, which I do not know, but the Carter Foundation has a prestige that supports them, only reinforce this position,” said Borrell. “These minutes, along with those presented by the opposition, reflect a result that we have always pointed out, which is that Maduro did not win those elections, the one who won was the opposition leader.”
Rodríguez Borell responded harshly: “Use all the pressure you want, name González Urrutia infanto, make him a king, do whatever you want, but there. You, nor the European Union, nor the Spanish Cortes, nor the Government of Spain, are involved in the affairs of Venezuela.” In his speech, Rodríguez also stated that, if it comes to getting involved in the affairs of other countries, he, “by reductio ad absurdum,” would propose to the National Assembly to approve a motion to ask Spain to abolish the monarchy. He then encouraged the deputies who were in favor of this measure to raise their hands, to which Rodríguez gave a parody tone. “Those who are in favor of proposing to the Government of Spain that the Bourbon monarchy be abolished, which has served no purpose other than corruption, chaos, and the expression of the extreme right.” Then, the president of the assembly raised his right hand and, with him, all the members of the chamber. “Approved,” concluded Rodríguez.
The Chavista leader referred again to the two Spanish citizens detained in Venezuela a month ago, and revived the thesis that the Spanish secret services could be involved in the country. “On the cell phones of these two captured people there were photographs of the targets to be murdered.” The families of the two young people detained and the Government itself deny that they have anything to do with CNI, the Spanish intelligence service.
In historical terms, Spain—along with Colombia and the United States—has been one of the traditional priorities of Venezuelan diplomacy. This position has been, in general, respected by Chavismo. The relationship between both nations, however, has had several important crises in these two decades of the Bolivarian revolution. From the time of Hugo Chávez until today, relations were particularly tense with the governments of José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, although neither of the two countries has dared to take the step of breaking up, due to the number of cultural ties. and migratory that they have. In Spain today there is a growing colony of Venezuelan origin and in Venezuela, although reduced, there continues to be a considerable population of Spanish origin.
In general terms, analysts and observers consider it unlikely that the Government of Venezuela would dare to take a step in which it would be, by far, much more harmed than Madrid. But there are those who believe that the senior Chavista government is genuinely fed up with dealing with these questions and that it has very seriously analyzed the option of toughening its electoral laws and deepening its contacts with other allied powers with a less democratic character.