The PP sees "incomprehensible" that the Government sides with Maduro despite the fact that there have been no changes in Venezuela

He questions the plans to appoint an ambassador in Caracas and to ease the sanctions and says that the opposition "does not trust" Spain

MADRID, 5 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PP's Foreign Affairs spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, Valentina Martínez, has accused the government of siding with the Nicolás Maduro regime despite the fact that "nothing has changed" in Venezuela and that free and public elections have not been held. fair that the opposition has been demanding and that until now Spain and the EU had also demanded.

Speaking to Europa Press, Martínez has questioned the plans of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to reappoint an ambassador in Caracas, where since November 2020 there has been a charge d'affaires. That decision, he recalled, was made because Maduro's re-election was not recognized and the condition that was then set was that there be "free and fair elections."

For the PP spokeswoman, if the ambassador is appointed and the sanctions are also lightened, Maduro will have "no incentive" to continue talking with the opposition, now that the negotiating process has been resumed in Mexico, since "he will have won everything without have to give anything back" while the opposition will get nothing.

In addition, he has noted, in Venezuela "nothing has changed" and the Maduro regime "continues to be accused of violating Human Rights." "Here there is a repressor, Maduro, and a repressed, which is the opposition," he has maintained.

"The Government would have to be impartial to participate in the dialogue," Martínez stressed, after recalling that Albares has offered Spain's support to the parties in whatever they may need. However, "he is giving a very clear yes to Maduro," he lamented, stressing that the mere fact that the parties have resumed dialogue cannot be seen as sufficient to lower sanctions or appoint an ambassador.

"Sitting at the table is the beginning, but the important thing is how they get up from that table," stressed the PP leader, insisting that the only way out of the crisis Venezuela is facing is holding free and fair elections as has been the opposition has been demanding.

Thus, he has asked Albares "what has changed and where do you see the progress" to change the position of the Government. "If the only progress is that they have sat down at the negotiating table, it is incomprehensible," he maintained, also demanding that the Foreign Minister "listen more to the opposition and meet more with them to understand what they are asking for."

Martínez explained that the PP maintains frequent contacts with the Venezuelan opposition and what they are told is that they "do not trust" the Spanish government and are "outraged" with the position it is adopting. For the 'popular' deputy, what the Executive of Pedro Sánchez seems to be showing with his budding change is that "oil is more important than principles".

On the other hand, the PP's Foreign Affairs spokesperson has stressed the fact that despite the fact that "Albares normally hides behind the difficult decisions regarding what the EU is going to do", as happened, for example, with the shipment of arms to Ukraine , now "Spain is ahead and trying to mark the line to make it easy" to the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell.

Decisions such as those that the Spanish government is preparing to make "do not help the dialogue to prosper" despite the fact that it is "vital" that the process resumed in mid-November in Mexico "go well so that there are free and fair elections" in Venezuela, Martínez insisted, emphasizing that "the process cannot be the end".

Thus, Martínez together with the also deputies of the PP Pablo Hispán, Belen Hoyo and José Antonio Bermúdez de Castro have presented a parliamentary question in Congress in which they expressly ask the Government to clarify "the fruits that the dialogue has given as to for Spain to carry out this unprecedented gesture".

Likewise, the PP wants the Executive of Pedro Sánchez to expressly specify if it "recognizes the Maduro regime as the legitimate government of Venezuela."

And finally, he is interested in knowing if "Spain has received any response to its offer from the Venezuelans to be present in the dialogue and facilitate it."