The rescue of Plus Ultra, an airline linked to Nicolás Maduro's inner circle, complicates the government of Spain

Daniel Vittar

03/17/2021 6:00 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 03/17/2021 7:26 AM

The government of Spain was involved in an uncomfortable controversy as a result of the financial rescue of the airline Plus Ultra, a

company that the opposition political parties

denounce had direct links with Chavismo and, particularly, with the environment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Through the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), the Pedro Sánchez government

authorized the contribution of 53 million euros

to refloat the Spanish airline, which connects Madrid with Caracas, within a plan to help companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Although it is the third airline that receives contributions from the State, in this case it aroused the reaction of the Popular Party and Vox because they maintain that the main shareholders of Plus Ultra

belong to the inner circle of the Venezuelan president.

That is why they asked the Sánchez Executive for explanations.

The Snip Aviation society has almost half of the business of this company, and its president, Rodolfo José Reyes Rojas, "close to the orbit of Nicolás Maduro", is "involved in suspected cases of corruption by the Venezuelan National Assembly for alleged corruption within social aid programs, "says the right-wing Vox party.

Furthermore, its leaders maintain that Reyes Rojas is "designated by the United States Government

as the main figurehead for the president

of Venezuela in the laundering of dollars and the fraudulent award of millionaire official contracts."

Plus Ultra in Santiago de Chile, in 2018. Photo EFE

The Popular Party, for its part, repudiated the rescue which it called

"Bolivarian airline"

, and denounced that behind this operation there may be a maneuver to benefit the Venezuelan friends of power.

"The Government of Sánchez and Iglesias

prefers to rescue a Bolivarian company

rather than our freelancers and SMEs. It will have to explain what mortgages it maintains with the Venezuelan dictatorship," said PP parliamentary spokesperson Cuca Gamarra.

It is not the first time that right-wing parties have criticized the government of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE)

for its "sympathy"

with the Maduro regime.

Although this time it is something very specific linked to the institutional.

According to the investigation carried out by the newspaper

Spanish digital

Vozpópuli,

47.23% of Plus Ultra's capital is under the control of

Snip Aviation, a firm made up of three Venezuelans

.

The one with the greatest presence is Rodolfo José Reyes Rojas.

Then Raif el Arigie Harbie appears as vocal, and Roberto Roselli Mieles as attorney-in-fact.

All of them would be part of the inner circle of the vice president of the Venezuelan government,

Delcy Rodríguez, and Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores.

It also points out that Reyes Rojas, Arigie Harbie and Roselli Mieles are commercially linked to Camilo Ibrahim Issa, a powerful businessman of Lebanese origin established in Venezuela who would have strong

“influence in the Venezuelan judicial system”.

Reyes is a well-known character in Venezuela, especially for his businesses.

In 2017, Luisa Ortega Díaz, the prosecutor dismissed by Maduro, linked him to the dark commercial operations related to the purchase of food for the Local Supply and Production Committee,

known as CLAP.

The appearance of these characters behind Plus Ultra caused the scandal to break out in Spain.

The contribution of 53 million euros to a company in decline, and at such a critical time for the country due to the pandemic, aroused all kinds of suspicions.

The Sánchez government argues that it is to avoid layoffs

and favor the arrival of Latin American migrants - especially Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Colombians - to Spain, but it cannot avoid mistrust.

It is expected that the Spanish Executive will give more explanations in Congress, where the opposition is preparing to investigate how this aid was conceived.

PB

Look also

The Venezuela of Nicolás Maduro, the country that stopped eating meat

Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez, Maduro's successors and “the power behind the power” in Venezuela