The Venezuelan opposition delegation that met on Sunday in Madrid with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, called not to «normalize» relations with the government of Nicolás Maduro unless there are real «democratic advances».
Opposition leader Freddy Guevara, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly elected at the end of 2015, explained in an interview to Europa Press that whoever wants to defend the current negotiation with Chavismo, «should not attempt against it».
This happens, in his opinion, by limiting gestures towards Maduro. «If they continue appointing ambassadors, giving them photos, lifting sanctions in exchange for nothing, the dictatorship will be eternalized and we will have a second Cuba», said Guevara, already from Berlin.
The group has embarked on a European tour with which it hopes that Spain and other countries will assume a «joint strategy» that is also «aligned» with the interests of the opposition. Spain plays a «fundamental role» in this context and, according to Guevara, «any false step is very serious».
The opposition leader has recognized that the recent exchange of ambassadors between Caracas and Madrid came up in the meeting held on Sunday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which Albares explained the reasons for this gesture.
The appointment of the ambassador «did not go well», explained Guevara, who warned that «any false step is very serious». Thus, he also recalled the landing of Vice President Delcy Rodriguez in Madrid in 2020 to point out that «greater coordination and firmness» is needed.
Besides Guevara, member of the Voluntad Popular party, Luis Emilio Rondón, Tomás Guanipa, Mariela Magallanes, Roberto Enríquez, and Luis Aquiles Moreno also attended the meeting with Albares. Finally, the main delegate in the dialogue process, Gerardo Blyde, did not attend the meeting for reasons «related to the negotiation», according to Guevara.
The parties resumed the dialogue in Mexico on November 26, with a first agreement on social protection, under which it is planned to unblock Venezuelan funds frozen abroad in the framework of sanctions against the Maduro regime and whose control was held by the opposition to finance social projects.
«We have exchanged views on the dialogue process in Venezuela. Spain supports that dialogue,» Albares said on his Twitter feed after the meeting with representatives of the Unitary Platform.
The minister has at all times defended Spain’s will to be able to support the dialogue between the Government and the opposition and has been maintaining contacts with both parties. Thus, he has been meeting with all the successive foreign ministers -he has not yet spoken with the new one, Yvan Gil- and has also maintained contacts with opponents such as Leopoldo López or Henrique Capriles.
Last November, Albares met with Blyde, chief negotiator of the opposition, in Paris. On that occasion, the minister also had a separate meeting with the Venezuelan government’s chief negotiator, Jorge Rodriguez, followed by a three-way meeting.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
