“We want to request the collaboration of the Spanish Government before the Barbados agreements to reactivate negotiations for Spanish citizens detained in Venezuelan prisons, especially in our case of my daughter. Maria Auxiliadora Delgado and from my son-in-law, Juan Carlos Marrufo. We beg the government to take all necessary steps to achieve the release of these children who have already been detained for more than four years. God will reward all these efforts.” The desperate appeal is from Osman Delgado, father of the Spanish-Venezuelan prisoner María Auxiliadora, one of the four political prisoners with Spanish nationality, whose families are living these hours in anguish awaiting their release.
The government of Pedro Sánchez has not been part of the countries that have held the event in Barbados, where Norway served as sponsor with the support of Russia and the Netherlands, plus the fundamental presence of the United States. Latin American foreign ministers, such as the Colombian, also supported the agreements with their presence, in addition to France, with a starring role (Macron has offered to lead electoral observation in the presidential elections) that has particularly stung Spanish diplomacy.
The other Spanish dams are Ángela Expósito and Karen Hernándezbesides Jorge Alayeto. All of them are united by similar stories, from the torture suffered to the arbitrariness and injustice of their trials. Against Delgado, 47 years old and also the sister of a soldier, the cruelty that she and her husband, an Italian national, suffered a false release in October 2019 weighs: after 170 days with a freedom decree, they were finally released and They sent a taxi home, but Maduro’s feared Special Forces (FAES) detained them again to present them before another judge, who accused them of treason.
Expósito, like the others, was involved in the alleged 2018 drone attack and sentenced to 24 years in prison for this. The Spanish-Venezuelan was in charge of a foundation that rescued animals that were left without owners due to political reprisals.
Karen Hernández was involved in the failed Operation Gedeón, carried out by a group of rebel soldiers who tried to land in Venezuela from Colombia. She is accused of treason, rebellion and other series of crimes.