The Government has welcomed the decision of the Government and the opposition in Venezuela to resume the dialogue in Mexico and has placed its «capacity for dialogue» at the service of the parties should they deem it necessary.
«The Government of Spain welcomes the resumption of the negotiation process in Mexico between the Government and the Venezuelan opposition,» said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement, after Norway, a facilitating country in the process, confirmed that the parties will meet on Saturday in the Aztec country.
For the Spanish Executive, «the Government and the Venezuelan opposition have taken a very important step today in the reconciliation of the country by resuming negotiations in Mexico», which were suspended in August 2021.
Thus, Foreign Affairs has stressed that «Spain will continue working to strengthen the dialogue in this new stage, putting its capacity for dialogue at the service of the parties and contributing to create the necessary conditions for the negotiations to be successful».
Precisely, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met last November 11 in Paris with the negotiators of the Government of Nicolás Maduro and of the Unitary Platform which brings together the main opposition parties, Jorge Rodríguez and Gerardo Blyde, respectively.
Albares had the opportunity to speak separately with both and to hold a three-way meeting prior to another organized by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and in which also participated the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, and the Argentine, Alberto Fernandez. The minister conveyed to both of them Spain’s «full willingness to accompany the process».
The Spanish government has not recognized the elections in which Maduro was reelected in 2018 and initially recognized Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly elected in 2015, as president in charge of Venezuela after he proclaimed himself as such in January 2020.
However, in recent times this recognition has remained a dead letter, with Guaidó relegated to the role of interlocutor within the opposition.
