Spain defends “talking to everyone” in Venezuela as the only realistic solution to the political crisis

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, defended this Thursday that Spain should maintain its “realistic” policy of “talking to all” political actors in Venezuela. As he explained, this is the only way to “modify the political situation” of the South American country.

“In order to have an accurate diagnosis of reality, it is necessary to speak with all the actors involved and to contribute to modifying that same reality it is necessary to have dialogue with those actors who have the capacity to produce changes”, stressed the minister in a parliamentary appearance.

In his opinion, the policy that “is limited exclusively to reiterating statements of principles has, unfortunately, little impact on modifying reality”, so that to “be truly effective” it is necessary to “be realistic” and recognize that “the truth is the one that is and not the one we would like it to be ”.

González Laya thus explained the position of the Spanish Executive to dialogue with the Government of Venezuela despite being the result of elections considered neither democratic nor fair by the European Union (EU).

The Spanish minister pointed out that it is about fulfilling two main objectives: defending the interests of the 150,000 Spaniards who reside in the country and of Spanish companies and taking care of the tens of thousands of Venezuelans residing in Spain, and contribute “in a constructive way to a negotiated solution that allows overcoming the serious crisis that is going through Venezuela and guarantee their return to democracy ”.

It is in this context, he explained, that the recent trip to Caracas by the Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Latin America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallach, took place, which has served to identify three areas of concern: the need for the The National Electoral Council, which will be appointed shortly, has a balanced composition and that control of the opposition parties is restored to their legitimate directives; guarantee Venezuela’s access to vaccines from covid-19, as well as NGOs, and the operations of the World Food Program.

There is also concern about the situation of Spaniards who are “political” prisoners, the needs of the Spanish community and that the Spanish airlines that have “the desire and the ability” to carry out the Madrid-Caracas route are allowed to do so on an equal footing. conditions to each other.