Spain gives Nicolás Maduro eight days to calls elections; failing which, it will recognise Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela

Institutional declaration by President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on situation in Venezuela

Good day. Before starting this speech, I would like to express my solidarity with and affection for the family of Julen. We have closely followed each step since the outset until he was finally found, and we share with great sadness the outcome of this tragedy. I also wish to underline the work and professionalism of all the teams deployed to secure his rescue and, finally, I want to highlight the tremendous example of solidarity of the whole of Spanish society which, once again, showed its best side, the best of itself, when faced with tragedies such as this.

I appear here before you, however, as a result of the recent events that have unfolded in our sister nation of Venezuela. Venezuela has been going through a very serious political, democratic, economic and humanitarian crisis for many years now. Nothing illustrates this statement better than the existence of more than 3 million displaced Venezuelans as a result of this situation. And Spain has headed up the European Union's position at all times in favour of democracy and liberty, and we do this in line with our special relationship and with our responsibility as a member of the Ibero-American Community of Nations.

Since last Wednesday, we have been actively working to forge a common position of the whole of the European Union, a position that very clearly translated into the statement made by the EU and its 28 Member States three days ago and, pursuant to which, I would like to underscore the recognition firstly, and above all, of the legitimacy of the Venezuelan National Assembly; and secondly, that we call for clean, democratic and transparent elections to be held in Venezuela immediately, and I stress immediately.

Over the course of the following days, the Government of Spain acted extremely cautiously, with responsibility and a firm hand given the serious political situation unfolding in Venezuela.

Firstly, while in Davos at the World Economic Forum, I immediately called a meeting with the different Latin American leaders present at the forum and, on my own initiative, I exchanged points of view on the situation in Venezuela with the Presidents of Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador, countries that all recognised Juan Guaidó three days ago as the President of Venezuela. They all clearly expressed their confidence in Spain standing by their side and asked me to continue actively working to forge a common position from the European Union.

Secondly, as you are aware, I spoke by phone with Juan Guaidó, in order to convey my support and also to see what his short-term plans were. During this phone call, I also conveyed the solidarity of the people of Spain with the situation that the people of Venezuela are undergoing.

And thirdly, over the last two and a half, three, days, I have actively worked with the European Union to attain a common position that seeks to recognise Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela, with the task of calling free and democratic elections that meet all the guarantees necessary and lead to the formation of a government that truly and democratically represents the people of Venezuela.

To that end, the Spanish representative, and through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and through the person of Minister Borrell, at the European Union's Political and Security Committee, held on Friday, the Government of Spain proposed recognition by the European Union and its 28 Member States, of Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela, tasked with immediately calling elections in Venezuela.

Spain thus maintains a clear position, and also a shared position with the vast majority of EU Member States, and I clearly wish to state that we are not seeking to impose or remove any government in Venezuela; we simply want to see free elections in Venezuela. We wish to see fair, free, transparent and democratic elections in Venezuela. At any event, I want to declare with absolute clarity and resolutely that if in an eight-day deadline fair, free and transparent elections have not been called in Venezuela, then Spain will recognise Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela.

I wish to recall that the international community did not recognise the legitimacy of the elections held in May which supported at that time the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, and neither did the Government of Spain. That is the reason why the European Union ambassadors did not attend the ceremony on 10 January; on the contrary, both at an international level and at a European level, the legitimacy of the Venezuelan National Assembly is acknowledged, which was democratically elected pursuant to the constitutional provisions in force. Juan Guaidó is the person who embodies, in our opinion, the maximum representation of the National Assembly, since he holds its presidency as the Speaker thereof, and consequently, he is the person who must head up this transition towards free elections.

By means of this declaration, the Government of Spain gives Nicolás Maduro eight days to call free, transparent and democratic elections. If that does not happen, I reiterate, Spain will recognise Juan Guaidó as Interim President of Venezuela to call said elections.

Spain has a responsibility as a member of the Ibero-American Community of Nations, and also, of course, as a Member State of the European Union, but primarily as a member of the Ibero-American Community of Nations we have a responsibility due to our historical and affective ties with Venezuela, where a very large Spanish colony resides, whose well-being is the top priority of the Government of Spain and personally for me; but it is for the whole of the Venezuelan people that we are most concerned in light of recent events. The commitment of the Government of Spain to Latin America is constant and firm, and through this decision I wish to convey the sincere commitment of my government to the people and to the future of Venezuela. And I am absolutely confident that, with a return to democracy and free elections, Venezuela will find a way out of this serious crisis.

Spain will always stand by Venezuela's side; Spain will always stand with the Ibero-American Community of Nations.

Thank you very much.

Non official translation