MADRID, April 1 (EUROPA-PRESSE) –
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia has accused his Swedish counterpart, Ann Linde, of “interfering” in Venezuela’s internal affairs because he recently spoke to opposition leader Juan Guaidó, whom Caracas regards as a “lost interlocutor”.
On March 24, Linde reported on a conversation with Guaidó and warned of the “unacceptable deterioration” of the humanitarian and human rights situation in Venezuela. He also called for a return to dialogue and an “immediate” end to the “persecution” of those who think differently.
Plasencia replied to Linde this Friday: “Do not interfere in the affairs of my country’s domestic politics. From the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, we reject the unfounded comments made by the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Sweden,” he condemned on Twitter.
The head of Venezuelan diplomacy has found the words of his counterpart, whom he accuses of “ignoring” the South American country’s democracy and sovereignty and failing to take into account President Nicolás Maduro’s efforts of dialogue, to be a “provocation”.
Plasencia has also lamented that countries like Sweden “want to give legitimacy to outdated interlocutors without a valid popular mandate,” alluding to Guaidó, who in January 2019 declared himself Venezuela’s “responsible president” and asserted his leadership of the National Assembly.
Since then, new parliamentary elections have been held, although the Venezuelan opposition did not take part in these Chavista-dominated elections and does not recognize their legitimacy.