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Albares insists that Edmundo González met and signed what he wished on the Spanish embassy and that Spain solely protected him

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares insisted on Friday that “everything that happened” on the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Venezuela the place Edmundo González was taking refuge was on the initiative of the opposition chief, who discovered himself “in terrible, very difficult circumstances” and to whom Spain restricted itself to “offering a space of tranquility and security” in order that he may converse, meet or make the selections he thought of. He added that neither the ambassador nor any official participated within the drafting or preparation of the doc that González signed admitting, based on him, below duress, the victory of Nicolás Maduro within the elections. “Everything that happened around his arrival in Spain was at the request of Edmundo González, the entry into the Embassy, ​​the asylum and the conversations he had.”

In an interview on TVE, Albares repeatedly refused to offer an in depth account of what occurred on the ambassador's residence in Venezuela, the place González met, within the presence of the ambassador, with two heavyweights of the Maduro regime, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, President of Parliament. With them he signed the doc during which he admitted Maduro's victory. Albares denied that the Government or the embassy participated within the preparation of the doc. He merely mentioned that Spain restricted itself to offering an area of “tranquility, security and freedom” for González to remain there with out concern of being detained for so long as he deemed applicable, in order that he may converse or meet with whomever he thought of. “All the meetings he had at the Embassy were requested by González, I am not going to speculate on his decisions,” Albares mentioned. Regarding the position of the ambassador, he mentioned that his solely directions have been to supply an area of freedom and “not to interfere.”

“We offered him a space of security, freedom and tranquility to decide, to meet with whoever he wanted. He was in very difficult circumstances.” He added that he may have stayed there for so long as he wanted. He referred to as on Edmundo González, the “only person authorised to clarify what happened at the ambassador’s residence”, to offer particulars if he needs.

He has insisted, nonetheless, that González's solely want was to return to Spain as a result of he was in a “terrible” scenario, afraid of being arrested. In reality, Albares has said that if the Government had accomplished what the PP mentioned, González “would be arrested in Caracas.”

He additionally regretted that the PP has not apologized for the accusations launched on Thursday that the Government participated within the coercion of Edmundo González and in a “coup d'état” by Maduro to perpetuate himself in energy, although 10 hours have handed because the assertion during which González himself denied these accusations.