The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, regretted this Monday in an interview on RNE that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has traveled to Spain as an “ideological leader” to meet only with the Spanish right and far-right, ignoring the Spanish Government despite the fact that at one point she was even offered refuge in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas.
He conveyed this in an interview on RNE after Machado had met in recent days with the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and that of Vox, Santiago Abascal, and had ruled out doing so with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, considering it would not be appropriate at this time. “What I observe is that she has chosen to act as an ideological leader and that is why she has decided to meet only with one part of the Spanish political spectrum, with the Spanish far-right,” instead of as a representative of the Venezuelan people, which is how she wants to present herself, the minister stated.
Albares reiterated once again that the Government offered to hold a meeting with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate during her stay in Madrid and revealed that “María Corina Machado herself, at one point, requested refuge in our Embassy.” “I personally told her there was no problem,” the minister added, although “in the end she didn’t use it, but it was there.” Therefore, he considers it “completely unfair” that the Spanish Government is criticized, “the one that has done the most for the Venezuelan people worldwide.”
Furthermore, the Foreign Minister denounced Machado’s criticism of Spanish institutions: “You cannot ask for help and then come to discredit Spanish institutions,” he pointed out, questioning the fact that Machado makes “gratuitous criticisms to please a part of the Spanish political spectrum.”
“Is it necessary to try to hide everything this Government is doing for the sister people of Venezuela to please the Spanish far-right?” he asked. In this regard, he recalled that not only have more than 250,000 Venezuelans been welcomed, but opposition leader Leopoldo López spent more than a year as a refugee in the Spanish Embassy before moving to Spain, where he was recently granted nationality, and that presidential candidate Edmundo González also took refuge in the Embassy before being transferred on a Spanish Air Force plane and receiving asylum.
Given the circumstances, he considered it “absurd” that the Venezuelan opposition leader has come to Spain as “the leader of a faction trying to overshadow the vast majority of Venezuelan people who reside perfectly among us.” “If María Corina Machado wants to come as the leader of an ideological faction to Madrid, I sincerely believe it is a mistake,” especially if it is the far-right, he pointed out.
Nevertheless, he added, it will not divert the Government “for a second” from its policy towards Venezuela, which involves “talking with everyone, with the Government and with the opposition, to try to achieve a broad dialogue and a peaceful, negotiated, and always democratic solution.” “Unlike the Popular Party and Vox, who have already chosen who should be the president of Venezuela, we do not have a candidate,” the minister defended, insisting that it must be the Venezuelans who decide.
On the other hand, Albares also denounced the use of public squares, such as Puerta del Sol in Madrid, “to utter shouts and slogans that are clearly racist. “That certainly has no place in Spain. Racism has no place in Spain,” he stressed, referring to the shouts of “fuera la mona” (get out, monkey) uttered by singer Carlos Baute during Machado’s mass event with Venezuelans, in reference to the current acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez.
Feijóo: “Ms. Machado has been consistent”
On the opposite side was Feijóo, who this Friday received Machado with full honors at the PP headquarters on Madrid’s Génova street and who strongly supported the anti-Chavista politician in her decision not to meet with Sánchez. “Ms. Machado has explained very well that, when she comes to Spain, having a meeting with the President of the Government, who has been colluding, who is still colluding with the Maduro regime, makes no sense,” said the PP leader before attending, this Monday morning, an informative breakfast where the opposition leader herself was the main speaker. “Spain has asked for the suspension of the European Union sanctions against Ms. Delcy Rodríguez’s government to be lifted. That is incompatible with democracy and incompatible with the coherence of a Western country that believes in democracy and freedom of expression. Therefore, Ms. Corina has been consistent with what she has said, with what she does, and with what she has suffered,” Feijóo concluded before the media.
The opposition leader also commented on the chants of “fuera la mona” (get out, monkey) that were heard on Saturday during singer Carlos Baute’s performance in Puerta del Sol, while waiting for Machado, and which have been rejected by the Madrid opposition for their “racist” content. Feijóo, for his part, remained equidistant. “I am not in favor of chants insulting anyone, what is evident is that there are people who insult and then are bothered by being insulted. I do not agree with those who insult nor with those who are insulted,” said the PP leader, reports Virginia Martínez.
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