Venezuela threatens to cut ties with Spain after González Urrutia recognition

Venezuela has threatened to cut ties with Madrid after Spain’s Parliament voted to recognise Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition leader who challenged Nicolás Maduro in the disputed July election, as president-elect of the Latin American nation.

The speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, called for the suspension of the nation’s political and economic relations with Spain, including consular activities, air travel and any business with Spanish companies.

“This trampling is unacceptable,” Rodríguez said in a speech at the National Assembly. “There is no need to have diplomatic relations with a country that does not respect us.”

But just hours later, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met González Urrutia, who fled to Madrid over the weekend requesting asylum, as tensions mounted between Caracas and its former colonial ruler.

Spanish lawmakers on Wednesday approved a non binding motion urging Sánchez's government to recognise González Urrutia as the "legitimate winner" of the July presidential election that gave strongman Maduro a third six-year term.

Sanchez published a video on X showing him walking in the gardens at his official residence with the veteran diplomat and the opposition figure's daughter Carolina González, who lives in Spain.

"Spain continues to work in favour of democracy, dialogue and the fundamental rights of the brotherly people of Venezuela," he posted, adding that he "warmly welcomed Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia to our country."

It was the first meeting between Sanchez and González Urrutia, 75, since he and his wife landed in Spain on Sunday to seek political asylum.

He had been in hiding following the July 28 presidential election in Venezuela that the opposition insists he won. But Maduro claimed victory and ordered González Urrutia's arrest.

Venezuela’s threat of a retaliatory move threatens to further isolate the country as Maduro lashes out at nations that have questioned the legitimacy of the July 28 presidential election or rejected his claim to victory, including the United States, Chile and Argentina.

New sanctions

The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions against 16 Venezuelan officials, including some from the electoral authority, for impeding "a transparent electoral process" and not publishing "accurate" results.

Venezuela issued a statement shortly afterwards denouncing the sanctions as a "crime of aggression."

The United States has recognised González Urrutia as the winner of the election.

So far, however, Spain and most other European Union nations have limited themselves to refusing to accept Maduro as the victor and calling on the Venezuelan government to release the voting tally sheets.

Madrid wants to "maintain the best relations with the Venezuelan people," government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria said earlier Thursday in response to Venezuela's threat to suspend political and economic ties with Spain.

Venezuela is home to a large community of Spanish citizens and descendants, and major Spanish firms such as oil giant Repsol, telecoms firm Telefónica and BBVA bank have a significant presence.

If Caracas does break ties with Spain, "it would confirm that Maduro's government is willing to isolate itself from the West in order to remain in power," Mariano de Alba, a Venezuelan international politics expert, told AFP.

Spain, meanwhile, wants to avoid a suspension in ties since this would "reduce even more its capacity to influence the Maduro government at a time when the international community is looking to convince it that there must be negotiations," he added.

Investigation, criticism

Venezuelan prosecutors have opened an investigation against González Urrutia for alleged crimes related to his insistence that he was the rightful election victor.

The charges include usurpation of public functions, forgery of a public document, incitement to disobedience, sabotage and association with organised crime. He risks a prison sentence of 30 years.

The charges stem from the opposition publishing its own tally of polling station-level ballots cast, which it says showed González Urrutia winning about two-thirds of votes.

Venezuela's electoral authority has said it cannot provide a breakdown of the election results and blamed a cyberattack on its systems.

Speaking at a United Nations forum on human rights in Geneva on Tuesday, Argentina’s Foreign Minister Diana Mondino slammed the Maduro administration for damaging “the rule of law, democracy and respect for the civil and political liberties of the Venezuelan people.”

“In the weeks following the elections, the human rights situation has worsened at an alarming rate,” she warned, citing the “arbitrary detentions of opposition leaders, journalists and protesters, including children, adolescents, women and people with disabilities,” which she warned may “amount to enforced disappearances.”

Criticising the “judicial persecution initiated by the Venezuelan State” against González Urrutia, she called on the Maduro administration to “unconditionally and immediately release all arbitrarily detained people …. put an end to the wave of repression against political opponents and protesters that is intensifying throughout the country, and to fully respect international standards on the due process and on the conditions of detention.”

– TIMES/AFP/BLOOMBERG