By Corina Pons
MADRID, April 18 (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Saturday she declined a meeting with Spain’s prime minister during her visit because he was hosting a summit of progressive leaders in Barcelona.
Machado, a right-wing liberal and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has refused to meet Spain’s leftist coalition government under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in contrast to her frequent encounters with Sanchez’s right-wing opponents.
“What has transpired in the past few hours at the meeting he held in Barcelona with various political leaders from different countries is proof that such a meeting was not advisable,” Machado told an event in Madrid.
Sanchez had said on Friday he was willing to meet Machado any time, calling for Venezuelans to decide their future democratically and without foreign interference.
Machado is set to be feted later on Saturday by one of Sanchez’s fiercest critics, Madrid regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso, before holding a rally with the Venezuelan diaspora in the Spanish capital.
RETURN TO VENEZUELA
While praising Spain for welcoming Venezuelan migrants, Machado said neutrality was no longer acceptable regarding the interim government of Delcy Rodriguez, who rules after the U.S. military ousted President Nicolas Maduro in a January raid on Caracas.
Since then, Washington has been cooperating with Rodriguez, seeking to expand its presence in Venezuela’s oil sector. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank resumed dealings with Caracas this week after a hiatus that began in 2019.
Machado said she was coordinating with Washington on her return to Venezuela to lead a democratic transition. She backed the IMF’s renewed oversight of the economy, saying it would allow the opening of the central bank’s vaults to reveal the country’s gold reserves.
She also called for clear indications of when new elections would be held.
“It’s very clear that at this moment, there are those who want Venezuela to be democratic and free, and those who want to maintain the current status quo … Just ask them when the elections should be held,” she said.
(Reporting by Corina Pons. Writing by David Latona. Editing by Louise Heavens)
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