Rajoy: Venezuela insults Spain and goes unscathed

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero answered questions from Spanish TV journalists (Photo: Efe)

Politics
Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the conservative Spanish People's Party, said on Wednesday that Venezuela has insulted Spain and has got away scot-free, whereas Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called for cooperation and a "sense of State" regarding foreign policy issues.

Zapatero and Rajoy debated at the Congress of Deputies the latest developments in Spain's bilateral relations with Cuba and Venezuela: the death of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the indictment issued by a Spanish judge who reported President Hugo Chávez government's alleged ties with Basque separatist group ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Rajoy reiterated his request to summon Venezuela's Ambassador to Spain so that Madrid expresses in writing the discomfort of the Spanish government vis-à-vis Chávez's criticisms of some Spanish authorities.

"If we do not do that, we can convey the idea that anyone can insult Spain or its government and get away scot-free," Rajoy stressed.

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