The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has expressed his displeasure because the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has come to Spain as an "ideological leader" to meet with representatives of the Spanish far-right, leaving the Executive out, despite the fact that at the time she was offered refuge at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas.
In an interview on RNE, reported by Europa Press, Albares alluded to the meetings that Machado has held in recent days with the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and with the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, as well as his decision not to meet with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, understanding that it would not be appropriate at this time.
"What I note is that she has chosen to act as an ideological leader and therefore has decided to meet only with a 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 head of Spanish diplomacy has pointed out.
Albares has insisted that the Government showed itself willing to hold a meeting with the opposition leader during her stay in Madrid and has revealed that "María Corina Machado herself, with whom I spoke on several occasions, at one point requested refuge in our embassy".
"I personally told him there was no problem," the minister remarked, emphasizing that "in the end he didn't use it, but it was there." Therefore, he considers it "completely unfair" that the Spanish Executive is attacked, which he has described as "the one that has done the most for the Venezuelan people in the whole world."
Albares rejects attacks on Spanish institutions
"You cannot ask for help and then come to disparage Spanish institutions," Albares reproached, criticizing Machado for launching "gratuitous criticism to please a part of the Spanish political spectrum." At this point, he asked: "Is it necessary to try to hide everything this Government is doing for the brotherly people of Venezuela to please the Spanish far-right?".
The minister recalled that Spain has welcomed more than 250,000 Venezuelans and gave the example that the opposition leader Leopoldo López remained for more than a year sheltered in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas before traveling to Spain, where he recently obtained nationality. Likewise, he mentioned the case of presidential candidate Edmundo González, who also took refuge in the diplomatic legation before being transferred on a Spanish Air Force plane and receiving asylum.
In this context, Albares has branded as "absurd" that the opposition leader has decided to present herself in Spain as "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," he indicated, especially when it comes to the far-right.
In any case, he has stressed that this controversy is not going to distract the Executive "for a second" from its roadmap regarding Venezuela, based on "talking with everyone, with the government and with the opposition, to try to achieve broad dialogue and a peaceful, discussed, negotiated, and always democratic solution".
"We, unlike the Popular Party and Vox, who have already chosen who the president of Venezuela must be --referring to Machado--, do not have a candidate," stated Albares, insisting that it is exclusively up to the Venezuelan citizens to decide their political future.
Lastly, the minister has condemned the use of public spaces, such as the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, "to shout and chant slogans that are clearly racist. That certainly has no place in Spain. Racism has no place in Spain," he emphasized, alluding to the shouts of "out with the monkey" that singer Carlos Baute launched during Machado's multitudinous event with the Venezuelan community, in allusion to the current acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez.