• Venezuela. Ábalos warns that he does not "miss anyone" and Pedro Sánchez supports him because "he avoided a diplomatic crisis"
  • Controversy: Ábalos went to the Venezuelan plane after demanding the 'number two' of Maduro
  • Guaidó "Sánchez was the first to recognize me"

Pedro Sánchez's decision not to receive in Venezuela the president in charge of Venezuela , Juan Guaidó, thus recognized by the Government of Spain itself and by the European Union , joins the rocambolesque episode starring the Minister of Transportation, José Luis Ábalos, meeting in the early morning in Barajas with the vice president of Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez, one of the 25 Venezuelan leaders on whom the prohibition of entry into Schengen territory weighs. This radical blow in foreign policy, and the rosary of different versions on the night visit of the minister and number three of the PSOE, highlight the confusion that exists within the Coalition Government, one of whose partners -Unidas Podemos- defends by layer and sword the tyrannical regime of Maduro.

The surprising position of the Government without any explanation of the turn regarding the decision adopted a year ago leaves bare the cracks within an Executive in which the Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, insists on the full recognition of Guaidó as president of the National Assembly and president in charge of Venezuela, while the second vice president, Pablo Iglesias, refers to him as "a very important politician of the opposition" to which, he adds, "the opposition itself has taken away the position of president of the National Assembly ».

The confusion has become tinted with the encounter, first denied, then crossed out by accident and finally accepted with the knowledge of three ministers - Gonzalez Laya, Grande-Marlaska and Ábalos himself - between the head of Transportation and the vice president of Maduro. A meeting that was tried to keep secret and that, as soon as it was unveiled, was labeled as clandestine and unworthy by the opposition - PP, Vox and Citizens -, which has not hesitated to demand the resignation of the minister.

Minigabinete for the 'Ábalos crisis'

The situation became so entangled that on Friday, at the last minute, Sánchez summoned a mini cabinet to face the Ábalos crisis , as they refer to it in Moncloa. Presidential sources affirm that after visiting the areas affected by the temporary Gloria , the president decided to meet with his closest ones to solve the informative, political and diplomatic chaos opened after the meeting between the Venezuelan minister and vice president.

As sources close to Sanchez's cabinet explain to this newspaper, the meeting came shortly after Minister Ábalos presented his latest version of the meeting with Delcy Rodríguez.

The first vice president, Carmen Calvo, and the chief of staff, Iván Redondo, attended the president's call. On the table, the sources added, several options were put in and even the possibility of contemplating the resignation of Ábalos was suggested. Finally it was agreed to endorse the minister and support his latest explanation. This is: that he went to Barajas to meet his friend the Minister of Tourism of Venezuela and, previously warned by the holders of Interior and Foreign Affairs, took the opportunity to warn Delcy Rodríguez that his entry into Spanish territory was prohibited. Yesterday, in the middle of the morning, Sánchez, who until then had avoided the questions of the press, lent himself to offer the definitively agreed version after two days of silence: Ábalos met Delcy Rodríguez "to avoid a diplomatic conflict" with the partners of the EU, "and it succeeded." In passing, the president took the opportunity to attack the opposition.

The episode, however, has generated injuries. The Minister of Transport showed his discomfort in a party appearance in Santiago de Compostela : «I have come to stay and nobody gives me away; others may be in the politics of passage (...) I have been in this since the year 76, I am not on an adventure ».

Some interpreted that he responded to the demands of resignation by the opposition - the leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, warned yesterday that he will take this matter to Parliament and the European level and, along with Citizens, is willing to ask for a commission of research in Congress-; others, on the other hand, put the focus of the minister's malaise in circles of La Moncloa.

The controversy will jump to Congress

Research Commission The Popular Party and Citizens are already preparing to take to Congress the turn of Sánchez in relation to Venezuela and the bizarre meeting between Minister Ábalos and the vice president of Maduro. Both political forces are studying raising a commission of inquiry on this latest episode.

Appearances As soon as the Congress begins to function with its ordinary routine in the second week of February, the opposition will demand, in addition to explanations to the President of the Government and the Minister of Transportation, José Luis Ábalos, the appearance of the head of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska , to explain the presence of Delcy Rodríguez, vetoed by the EU, at the Barajas airport.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Venezuela
  • PP
  • Citizens
  • United We Can
  • European Union
  • Vox
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Pablo Iglesias
  • Pablo Casado
  • PSOE
  • Nicolás Maduro
  • Juan Guaidó
  • José Luis Ábalos
  • Ivan Round
  • Spain
  • Carmen Calvo
  • Arancha González Laya

Politics PP and Citizens ask for a commission of inquiry in Congress on the meeting of Ábalos with Delcy Rodríguez

VenezuelaAbalos saw Maduro's 'number two' in Barajas but he says it was fortuitous

PoliticsPP and Vox demand the resignation of Ábalos for his meeting with the vice president of Venezuela in Barajas