Tensions between Venezuela and Spain are boiling over, after a Spanish government minister said Venezuela’s government was a “dictatorship”.
The minister of defence in Spain, Margarita Robles, had been quoted as saying that Venezuelans were leaving the country “because of the dictatorship they are living through”.
This saw Caracas recall its ambassador in Madrid, while summoning Spain’s representative in Venezuela.
Venezuelan foreign minister Yvan Gil Pinto said that Robles’s comments had been “insolent, meddling, and rude”.
This follows the arrival of Venezuelan opposition politician Edmundo Gonzalez in Madrid over the weekend, where he requested asylum.
Gonzalez had run against Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro in elections held in July. Amid rigging and government violence Maduro was declared the official winner, but there was strong evidence that Gonzalez had been the real victor.
After the election an arrest warrant for Gonzalez had been authorised by Caracas which saw him seek Spanish asylum.
[Image: Spanish defence minister Margarita Robles, https://flickr.com/photos/secdef/52085042651/]