Andrés Martínez Adasme, 32 years old, and José María Basoa Valdovinos, 35 years old, The two Spaniards detained in Venezuela accused of being agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and part of a plot to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro, are two Bilbao residents with no connection to the secret services, who were in the Caribbean country for tourism.
This is what his family claims, who reported his disappearance to Ertzaintza on the 9th. Through social networks, he asked for help to locate them, explaining that they traveled from Madrid to Caracas (Venezuela) on August 17 and rented a car that they should have returned on September 5. On September 2, they communicated for the last time with their relatives, who since then had no news of their fate.
The Basque Government is in contact with the families of both to “provide them with support” and make available to them “everything they may need or demand”, while, through the regional executive's external action area, the way remains open. diplomatic to be aware of their situation, reports Efe. The Spanish embassy in Caracas sent a verbal note to the Venezuelan government on Saturday “requesting access to the detainees, in order to verify their identity and nationality and, if verified, to know exactly what they are accused of and that they can all receive the necessary help.”
The family of the two detainees is not the only one to deny any connection with the secret services. Fountains of La Moncloa They denied links with the CNI on Saturday evening. attributed in a press conference by Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and the Spanish Foreign Ministry was even more forceful this Sunday through a statement in which it denies any Spanish involvement in this alleged plot: “Spain denies and rejects any insinuation that it is involved in a political operation in Venezuela. The government has confirmed that the detainees are not part of the CNI or any other state organization. “Spain defends a democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.”
Anticipating this denial, Cabello said at his press conference. “Spain will respond that it is a lie. “They can say what they want, their agents admit it.” The Venezuelan minister did not limit Spain's alleged involvement to the two detainees, but instead accused Spanish intelligence of collaborating in a destabilizing operation through acts of violence designed by the CIA. “The CNI encourages the recruitment of terrorists to come to Venezuela,” he said. “Spain is involved in the operation against Venezuela,” he added.
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Asked whether his country should break off relations with Spain – as proposed by the president of the National Assembly, controlled by Chavismo, Jorge Rodríguez – the Venezuelan Interior Minister responded: “We should ask ourselves how we maintain relations with a government that aspires to overthrow us. Considered a hawk of the regime, Cabello distanced himself from the Venezuelan government in recent years, but Maduro recovered him as Minister of Internal Relations, Justice and Peace in the government formed on August 27, after elections that, according to all available information, lost to the opposition.
The arrest of the two Spaniards takes place in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between the two countries. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil has summoned his country's ambassador to Madrid for consultations and has summoned the Spanish ambassador to Caracas to protest the alleged “interference actions” of the Spanish government, after Defense Minister Margarita Robles described the Chavista regime as a “dictatorship.” At the heart of the crisis are the asylum in Spain of the opposition candidate in the July 28 elections, Edmundo González Urrutia, who arrived in Madrid last Sunday on a Spanish Air Force plane, and the decision of the Congress of Deputies that, at the initiative of the PP, recognized him as the winner of the elections and president-elect.