Madrid, The President of the Spanish Government, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, tomorrow will undertake a trip to the Dominican Republic and Mexico, two countries that have adopted different positions in the face of the Venezuelan crisis generated by the self-proclamation of Juan Guaidó as interim president of that Latin American country.
Sanchez, who will recognize the legitimacy of Guaidó if Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro does not call an election before February 3, will meet Tuesday in Santo Domingo with Dominican President Danilo Medina, who supports the first of them.
The head of the Spanish government will meet Wednesday with the president of Mexico, the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who recognizes Maduro, but bets, along with Uruguay, for a third way of dialogue within the Ibero-American community.
This will be Sanchez’s fourth trip to Latin America since he came to power in June of last year, a sign of the priority he gives to the region.
Sources from the Moncloa Palace (headquarters of the Presidency of the Executive) confirmed that the crisis in Venezuela is on the agenda of the bilateral meetings that Sánchez will hold with Medina and López Obrador and that the possibility of “doing things together” will be over of the table.
They also assure that there is a “huge harmony” between both politicians and they trust that from their exchange of ideas there may be “constructive initiatives, involving the region and being done for the benefit of the people of Venezuela.”
The decision of the European Union (EU) to create a “contact group” formed by European countries and the region to promote dialogue between the Venezuelan Government and opposition will be one of the initiatives that Sánchez will propose to Medina and López Obrador.
Sanchez will explain that for the EU and for Spain the most important thing is that in Venezuela there are free and democratic elections, with international observers, because the best thing for the Venezuelan people is that they choose their president for themselves and that there is a peaceful and dialogue to the situation.
A position that Sánchez considers compatible with the demand for dialogue and “non-interference” from Mexico, whose position is almost an exception in Latin America, where the vast majority of countries have recognized Guaidó.
With his visit, Sánchez becomes the first governor that López Obrador receives since his inauguration on December 1. Both will offer a press conference on January 30 and will sign several joint statements.
Moncloa sources point out that Latin America is one of Sanchez’s top priorities, with Mexico as a fundamental country, which also celebrates the 80th anniversary of the arrival of Spanish exiles after the 1936-1939 Civil War.
In this celebration Sanchez will focus part of his visit, with events such as the conference he will deliver at the Colegio de México, entitled “Mexico, host country, 80 years of Spanish exile.”
With him will travel the ministers of Justice, Dolores Delgado, and Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, as well as numerous entrepreneurs with interests in that country, as another of the objectives of Sanchez is to value Spanish companies before the new Mexican president.
Representatives of 25 large Spanish companies with presence in Mexican territory will attend a luncheon next Wednesday at the National Palace, along with their counterparts from that country. The next day he will celebrate a breakfast with more than a hundred of the 6,200 Spanish businessmen established in Mexico to listen to their concerns.
According to government data, Spain is the second investor country in Mexico after the US. (8,500 million euros in 2017), while Mexico is the fifth largest investor in Spain.
As for the Dominican Republic, the sources consider that it was already opportune to make a broader view than the usual scales to a country that since 1996 does not officially visit a Spanish Prime Minister.
For Spain, which is its first European partner, the Dominican Republic is a tourist destination of first order, which receives some 170,000 Spanish visitors a year, while about 250,000 Dominicans live in Spanish territory.
In Santo Domingo, Sánchez will take the opportunity to close on Tuesday, as general secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and vice president of the Socialist International (IS), the meeting of the SI Council in which delegations of more than 145 will participate from today. political parties. (EFE).
