The PP focuses on Venezuela during Sánchez's anti-Trump summit

MadridWhile Pedro Sánchez received Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, with military honors in Barcelona, at the PP headquarters in Madrid, an alternative reception with honors was held for the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Dozens of popular affiliates, party officials, other anti-Chavista activists, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo himself gathered at the entrance of the headquarters on Génova street to applaud Machado's arrival. The dazzling Nobel Peace laureate, in the midst of a European tour, allowed herself to be courted by the PP —in the afternoon she also met with the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal— while turning her back on the Spanish government, with whom she preferred not to meet.

Although PP sources deny that the visit was deliberately timed to coincide with the anti-Trump summit weekend led by Sánchez in the Catalan capital, the message Feijóo wanted to send was clear. While the PP clearly positions itself on the side of "freedom," the Spanish government "is not in this place," argues the popular president. "Spain's place is alongside María Corina Machado and not with the tyranny that pursues her," he stated at an event where there were hugs and more ovations —also for deputy Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, a friend of Machado and one of the PP leaders most committed to defending the cause of the Venezuelan opposition—.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, as usual, further raised the tone to highlight the contrast with the socialist leader. "There are two photos: the meeting of the free world in Puerta del Sol and another of narco-states around Sánchez," she concluded from Brussels, referring to Mexico or Colombia, governed by the Latin American left. This Saturday afternoon, the Madrid president will receive Machado at the Madrid regional government headquarters, located in Puerta del Sol, and will award her the gold medal of the autonomous community. She will also recognize the Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González with the region's international medal. Subsequently, Machado will likely have a large public gathering with a meeting of Venezuelans outside the government building.

The Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, replied on La Sexta that "the greatest support the Venezuelan opposition has is precisely the government of Spain". However, Machado has turned her back on them. Bolaños assured that a meeting between Sánchez and her would be "perfectly possible". "Your party in Spain", but, as Feijóo has claimed, is the PP, which tirelessly champions this cause despite the contradictions generated by Donald Trump's forceful intervention in Venezuela and the decision to maintain, for now, the Chavista Delcy Rodríguez in power.

Avoiding confrontation with the President of the USA, Feijóo has called for "free elections with an explicit calendar as soon as possible" in Venezuela and the return of Machado, whom Trump scorned after she snatched the Nobel Peace Prize from him. With the same balance that both the opposition figure and the Popular Party maintained then, Machado has defended the "military victory" over Nicolás Maduro's regime at the beginning of the year and has called for "the total liberation of all Venezuelans" and the "dismantling of repressive structures". This Friday afternoon it will be the turn of the mayor of Madrid, the popular José Luis Martínez-Almeida, to pay tribute to her with the presentation of the golden key of the city.