Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González issued a statement Thursday night denying having been pressured by the Spanish government to force him to leave Venezuela for Spain. These alleged coercions were allegedly carried out within the Caracas embassy in collaboration with the Venezuelan executive, a version that was raised during the day by the PP. “I was not forced by the Spanish government or the ambassador,” the note states.
Throughout Thursday, the vice-secretary of the PP, Esteban González Pons, came to describe the Spanish executive as “putschist”, while the leader of his party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanded the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, for his management of the crisis in Venezuela.
González now presents another version of what happened. “The Spanish government is committed to guaranteeing my safety during the trip on board the armed forces plane,” the statement said. The opposition leader assures that he made the decision to issue this statement “in light of the different versions that are circulating regarding the allegations of coercion by officials of the Spanish state.”
“The measures taken by Spain were aimed at allowing the continuity of the processing of the asylum application before the Spanish State in conditions of security and respect for my rights,” the note reads.
“I want to emphasize that these efforts were supervised and facilitated directly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, in conditions of security and respect for my rights,” he emphasizes. The opposition leader had already thanked the government for its efforts to welcome him upon his departure from Venezuela when this happened.
“Thank you Edmundo González for defending the truth against slander and insults against Spain and its foreign service,” Albares himself said on the opposition social network and others in which we must be one country. “Spain is committed to democracy and human rights,” he concluded.
Feijóo had assured a few hours earlier, at a press conference in Rome after his meeting with the ultra-Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, that “the Spanish government lied” about the asylum it granted to Edmundo González. “Spanish diplomacy, an essential pillar of European diplomacy in Latin America, cannot be at the service of a dictatorial regime,” he added.
Full statement by Edmundo González:
Given the different versions circulating regarding the allegations of coercion by Spanish state officials, including Ambassador Ramón Santos, against me, I wish to categorically clarify the following:
I was not forced by the Spanish government or by the Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Ramón Santos. The diplomatic efforts made were only aimed at facilitating my departure from the country, without exerting any pressure on
My.
The Spanish Government has undertaken to guarantee my safety during my journey on board the Spanish Armed Forces aircraft, as well as upon my arrival in Spain, as it happened. The main purpose of these measures was to allow the continuity of the processing of my asylum application before the Spanish State, in conditions of security and respect for my rights.
I would like to emphasize that these efforts have been supervised and facilitated directly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, José Manuel Albares, guaranteeing at all times my well-being and freedom of decision.
With this statement, I hope to clarify any doubts or misunderstandings regarding the nature of my transfer and reiterate my gratitude to the Spanish authorities for their support and commitment to the protection of human rights.
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
Madrid. 09/19/2024