The visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister to Colombia irritates Nicolás Maduro

Spain's Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge in Cúcuta, Colombia.SCHNEYDER MENDOZA / AFP

On one side of the border, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, recognized this Saturday the "enormous generosity" of Colombia to host 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants in its territory from Cúcuta, the main Colombian city on an extensive and porous boundary line.

On the other, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who heads the regime that has caused an unprecedented exodus in the region, described that visit framed in international cooperation as an aggression.

"We are going to thoroughly review the entire relationship with Spain, at all levels," the president announced in one more step in his recent escalation of tensions with European countries.

"We warn the Government of Spain in time, we will respond in a forceful manner to any aggression that comes, whether in word, in action, diplomatic, or political," he added during his participation in the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples.

"What is the foreign minister of Spain doing on the Colombian border with Venezuela instead of going to the Mediterranean to look for refugees and people fleeing Africa?

Why is the foreign minister of Spain coming to meddle in the affairs of Venezuela? ”Asked the heir of Hugo Chávez.

“I have absolutely no interpretation to make about your statements, the only thing I ask is the same respect that I offer.

No more, no less, ”González Laya said at night, shortly before boarding his flight back to Madrid, in a meeting with Spanish media in which EL PAÍS participated.

“I have visited Colombia, I have visited a series of projects financed by Spanish cooperation, and I have done so with respect for this country and all its neighbors.

And the same respect that I preach is the same respect that I demand ”, the head of Spanish diplomacy concluded.

The tour was preceded by friction between Caracas and Brussels.

Maduro decided to expel the ambassador of the European Union, Isabel Brilhante, in the face of the new sanctions adopted by the bloc, while the 27, in retaliation, declared

the ambassador of Venezuela to the European Union

persona

non grata

.

The three-day visit that González Laya closed in Cúcuta, after having held meetings with businessmen and various authorities in Bogotá, was framed by three purposes.

Strengthen relations between Bogotá and Madrid and project them to the scenario of economic recovery after the pandemic;

support the implementation of the peace agreement with the former FARC guerrilla;

and to support the enormous efforts of Colombia, by far the main host country, of Venezuelan migrants.

More than five million Venezuelans have fled a devastating economic and institutional crisis in recent years.

With more than 2,200 kilometers of common border, Colombia welcomes more than 1.7 million citizens who left the neighboring country driven by hyperinflation, the shortage of food and medicine or insecurity.

Bogotá announced this month a temporary protection statute that aims to regularize Venezuelans who are in the country, and will especially benefit about one million who are undocumented, according to figures from Migración Colombia.

González Laya has joined the international figures who have thanked the Government of Iván Duque for putting the statute into operation, which will be valid for ten years.

In Cúcuta, where she visited, among other things, a hospital and a children's shelter, the Foreign Minister highlighted the role of cooperation to mitigate the impact of the emergency caused by the exodus.

“I am not here to criticize Venezuela, nor to give lessons to Venezuela, I am here to try together with the international community to give an answer to the Venezuelan citizens who have decided to leave their country and come to Colombia in search of a better life.

We have to focus on them today, ”the diplomat had declared from the Simón Bolívar international bridge, which connects the metropolitan area of ​​Cúcuta with the Venezuelan state of Táchira, before Maduro's words were known.

"There is no doubt that breaking bridges, cutting off dialogues, expelling our diplomats, does not help in this work of dialogue," he reasoned, reaffirming that "modestly, Spain is committed to dialogue to solve the political conflict in Venezuela."

"Our funds and resources are not enough to address this very serious crisis that we are suffering at the border," said the Colombian Foreign Minister, Claudia Blum, thanking once again the donor conference that Spain organized last year in jointly with the European Union to support recipient countries.

In 2021 there will be another follow-up conference in Canada.

In parallel to the migratory phenomenon, Duque has given his unrestricted support as interim president of Venezuela to the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, he is a fierce critic of Maduro and promotes a “diplomatic siege” on the Chavista regime, whom he accuses of sheltering in his territory to the dissidents of the FARC and the ELN guerrilla.