The new ambassadors of Venezuela and Nicaragua presented their credentials to King Felipe VI on Wednesday. It was the last protocol law that put an end to the political and diplomatic disputes between Spain and the two Latin American countries that had been going on for years. The new ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Kingdom of Spain has been announced. Coromoto Godoy Calderon, 57-year-old Venezuelan diplomat and lawyer. New head of mission of the Republic of Nicaragua Maurizio Gelli64 years old and of Italian descent, recently nationalized Nicaragua.
They think there is a “commitment to work in the country” with the move taken today from the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. revitalizing relations of friendship and cooperation“With Spain. Accompanying photos of their meeting with King Felipe VI, they called it “poem for peace” on Twitter.
Although the presentation of the identity documents took place this Wednesday, Coromoto Godoy had been in Spain for a year as operating manager. and he was already introducing himself as an ambassador. For example, it welcomed Venezuelan citizens abducted from Sudan by Spain last month at the airport. Godoy Calderon has been in the Venezuelan foreign service for over two decades. Previously, he was in charge of the diplomatic mission in Trinidad and Tobago and India.
Five-year diplomatic conflict with Venezuela
The most recent serious diplomatic differences between Spain and Venezuela began in 2018. Jesús Silva, the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, was later expelled from the country. declared “persona non grata” By the government of Nicolás Maduro. They said this was the regime’s response to the Mariano Rajoy Government’s “continuous attacks” against the country. Spain did not recognize the turbulent parliamentary elections that divided the country in two. However, Silva would return to Caracas three months later.
But in 2020 the crisis intensified again. this time it was Spain withdrawing its ambassador, as a protest against political repression in Venezuela and that year’s parliamentary elections, which the Spanish government did not recognize due to irregularities. A few months ago, Pedro Sánchez staged a major coup, officially recognizing opposition Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s new “responsible president”. However, Guaidó was unable to carry out the mission of holding free and fair elections entrusted to him during these years and was unable to unite the support of a divided opposition. The Spanish government is slowly maneuvering to move away from Guaidó and approach Nicolás Maduro again. Negotiations continue between the regime and the opposition for the political and economic normalization of the country, which has dragged on for years and is subject to sanctions and widespread poverty.
In this context, on 27 December, the Council of Ministers surprisingly approved the appointment of a new Spanish ambassador to Venezuela. In fact, he promoted the current charge d’affaires, Ramón Santos Martínez, who has held this post since 2021. The resumption of negotiations between the government and the Venezuelan opposition in Mexico is “an objective improvement of the situation that must be supported,” Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said.
Spain also welcomed former Venezuelan general Miguel Rodríguez Torres, a disgraced member of the Chavista leadership, who became interior minister and helped defuse the dreaded crisis. Venezuelan political police SEBIN (The Bolivarian National Intelligence Agency) is accused of political assassinations and harsh crackdowns on opposition in the country, particularly the student protests of 2014.
diplomatic channel with Nicaragua
With Nicaragua, the situation is somewhat different. Daniel Ortega does not conduct any internal political negotiation process, on the contrary. The president started a campaign five years ago. elimination of political oppositionIt includes arbitrary arrests and unsecured public trials that result in long prison sentences. During this time, pressure is mounting, according to Amnesty International.
Pedro Sánchez’s government has offered citizenship to several hundred Nicaraguans: 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners who were exiled from the country, sent on a plane to Washington and stripped of their citizenship in February; and 94 other dissidents who were also stripped of their citizenship. The application has been made by 101 people so far., as confirmed by diplomatic sources. The Spanish Council of Ministers granted Spanish citizenship for the first time on 11 May to 14 Nicaraguans exiled by the Government of Daniel Ortega. It is expected that the applications will continue to be approved in the next councils of ministers.
Nicaragua has had no ambassador in Spain since March 2022, when Ortega withdrew Nicaraguan Sandinista intellectual, historian and academic Carlos Antonio Midence from Spain due to “constant pressures and threats of intervention”. “making diplomatic work impossible”reports EFE. Midence was summoned by the Foreign Ministry a week ago to express dismay at Spain’s Ortega government not allowing the then-Spanish ambassador to return to Nicaragua after he was summoned for consultations in August 2021. Spain has an ambassador in Managua since last July, Pilar Terrén.