Maduro called for a “deeper examination” of the relationship with Es …

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has ordered a “thorough review” of all relations with Spain in reaction to the visit of that country’s Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, to the Colombian city of Cúcuta to verify the situation in which thousands arrive. Venezuelan migrants. Maduro accused the Spanish foreign minister of “declaring himself in favor of Colombia’s xenophobic policy against Venezuela” and of being more interested in the situation of Venezuelans who have left the country than of “looking for refugees and people fleeing Africa. And dies in the Mediterranean “.

Last week, the Venezuelan president declared the ambassador of the European Union, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, persona not grata, and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. Then Brussels did the same with diplomat Claudia Salerno, although she did not order her expulsion from Belgian territory since she is also the competing representative of Venezuela with other neighboring states.

“We will thoroughly review the whole relationship with Spain at all levels, enough aggression,” Maduro said during its participation in the People’s Bicentenary Congress. “We warned the Spanish government in time, our Minister of Foreign Affairs (Jorge Arreaza) warned him in time. We will respond forcefully to any aggression that arises, whether in word, in action, diplomatic or political.“added the Venezuelan president.

According to official data, there are at least 1,748,000 Venezuelans in Colombia, making the nation the main destination for the more than five million people who have left the oil power. A part of these migrants settled in Cúcuta, a city which borders the western Venezuelan state of Táchira and in which thousands of people arrive every day to stay, use it as a bridge before continuing their migration through the region. or simply stock up on food and other basic items.

In this city, Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya and her Colombian counterpart Claudia Blum visited a UNICEF hospital and shelter that cares for Venezuelan migrants. After these activities, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs declared, from the land border post of Cúcuta, which connects Colombia and Venezuela, that she was there to try to “give an answer” to the migrants.

“I am not here to criticize Venezuela or to teach Venezuela”, He said Gonzalez Laya After considering that the expulsion of the European Union ambassador to Caracas, Isabel Brilhante, announced last Wednesday, does not help the need for a dialogue to resolve the Venezuelan crisis. “I am here to try, with the international community, to give an answer to the Venezuelan citizens who have decided to leave their country and come to Colombia in search of a better life,” he said.

But Maduro considers that the passage of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs by Cúcuta is “hypocritical” and is in favor of the alleged “xenophobic policy” of the government of Colombian President Iván Duque against Venezuelan migrants. “Today, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs goes hypocritically to the border of Cúcuta to speak out in favor of the xenophobic policy of the Colombian government against the Venezuelans (…). What is the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs doing on the Colombian border with Venezuela instead of going to the Mediterranean to look for refugees and people fleeing Africa? », Declared the socialist leader.

This incident adds to the tension that relations between these two countries are already suffering after the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López fled the country at the end of last October and settled in Spain. The Venezuelan government accused the then Spanish ambassador to Caracas, Jesús Silva – in whose residence López lived as a guest for almost 18 months – of aiding the opponent in s’ flee, sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for having called demonstrations that resulted in the flight. more than 40 deaths in 2014.

Last Wednesday, Venezuela handed a note of protest to the head of the Spanish diplomatic missions, Juan Fernández Trigo; France, Romain Nadal; Germany, Daniel Kriener and the Netherlands, Robert Schuddeboom. According to Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, the Caribbean nation issued protest notes that “it is these four governments that have acted with the greatest malicious intent to promote further attacks”, alluding to the new sanctions of the European Union against 19 Venezuelans, including deputies and officials.