Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced on public television this Saturday the arrest of two Spanish citizens, allegedly “spies for the CNI,” the Spanish intelligence service, who were planning to buy weapons and commit murders, according to the story of the number two in the Venezuelan regime and representative of the hardline sector. Sources in Moncloa have denied that those arrested are agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), as Cabello has claimed, but have not confirmed that they are Spanish citizens, something that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to verify.
In a very confusing speech, the minister recounted, in a disorganized and difficult to follow manner, what seemed to be three different plots, although he did not differentiate or specify them, nor is it known when one begins and another ends. “Two Spanish citizens were arrested in Puerto Ayacucho. José María Basoa Valdovinos and Andrés Martínez Adasme, near the Puerto Ayacucho airport, in an irregular situation, taking photos. We found on their phones links with a woman called María Teresa Clavijo, from Aragua, leader of Vente Venezuela, linked to the so-called commanders[grupos de voluntarios de la oposición encabeza por María Corina Machado, la líder antichavista]. Jorman Enrique Varillas and Jhexica Isabel APonte Figueras [dos nombres más que apuntó Cabello sin aportar mayores detalles]. She participated in the acts of violence, there is a photo of her, hooded, even, at a demonstration. The Spaniards ask on the phone where to buy explosives, to contact if they want to do a special job. And on their phone they plan the assassination of a mayor of Upata, a revolutionary mayor,” Cabello said. The television showed the two detainees while the minister was speaking. “The United States is not alien to this operation,” he added, linking the country to this alleged coup d’état.
In Madrid, official sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs have explained that “the Spanish Embassy [en Caracas] has sent a verbal note to the Government of Venezuela requesting access to the detainees, in order to verify their identities and nationality and, if verified, to know exactly what they are accused of and to ensure that they can receive all necessary assistance. The Embassy will ensure at all times the protection and rights of any Spaniard detained in Venezuela,” they added, reports Miguel Gonzalez.
Cabello, without showing evidence, has also accused the opposition of bringing weapons into Venezuela: “400 rifles and pistols linked to the opposition entered from the United States. This is just a sample of what was recovered, what was captured in intelligence operations. They tried to bring it in through regular channels. The Venezuelan government guarantees peace. There is no cause for alarm. We are doing what is necessary to maintain peace,” he continued in his press conference, surrounded by long weapons.
Relations between Spain and Venezuela are going through a moment of tension, despite the fact that a week ago they negotiated and agreed that the presidential candidate who seems more than likely to win the elections against Chavismo, Edmundo González, would go into exile in Madrid. The Spanish government has assured that the opposition candidate has been considered a politically persecuted person, to whom it provides coverage like any other who had requested it. Maduro, however, has assured that it was a political operation that had his supervision. González has met with President Pedro Sánchez in Madrid. In addition, the Spanish Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of declaring him the winner, but the government said that it will not do so and that it is in line with the policy of the European Union, which insists that Chavismo show the minutes that reflect the true result of the presidential elections of July 28. Maduro and his people have refused to show anything publicly.
Following the approval in Congress to demand recognition of González from Pedro Sánchez’s government – which is not binding – another of the heavyweights of Chavismo, Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Assembly of Venezuela, but above all Maduro’s number one political operator, urged Caracas to break commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain. The mood calmed down in the following days, but statements by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, in which she called the way of governing of Chavismo a dictatorship, caused the foreign minister to call his ambassador in Madrid for consultations and to summon the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, Ramón Santos. Santos and Yván Gil seem to have understood each other, since in the following hours there were no high-calibre statements. Even the vice president Delcy Rodríguez, sister of Jorge and also a top representative of the Chavista leadership, met with the director of Repsol in Venezuela. This announcement of the arrest of two alleged Spanish spies – something that the Sánchez government denies – opens a new chapter of discord.
