Venezuelans should decide country’s future themselves – top Spanish diplomat

No decisions regarding the future of Venezuela should be imposed from outside the country, as Venezuelans have the right to decide on their future themselves.

This was said by Spanish foreign minister Jose Albares on Wednesday.

“Decisions cannot be imposed from outside, especially by force. We want the decision to be made by Venezuelans themselves​​​.

“It must be a genuinely Venezuelan decision and can only be made through a broad dialogue between the government and the opposition,” Albares said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Any settlement in Venezuela must be democratic, the foreign minister added.

“We cannot allow civil clashes in Venezuela, the absence of an effective government or the destabilisation of the entire region,” he said.

On 3 January, the United States (US) launched a massive attack on Venezuela, capturing Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and taking them to New York.

US president Donald Trump announced that Maduro and Flores would face trial for allegedly being involved in “narco-terrorism” and posing a threat, including to the US.

During their court appearance in New York, Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In connection with the US operation, Caracas requested an emergency United Nations meeting, and Venezuela’s supreme court temporarily assigned the duties of head of state to vice president Delcy Rodriguez.

On 5 January, Rodriguez officially assumed the position of acting president of Venezuela and took the oath before the country’s national assembly.

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