Spain–Venezuela relations

Spanish-Venezuelan relations

Spain	Venezuela

Spain–Venezuelan relations are the bilateral relations between the

A Spanish expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda, while sailing along the length of the northern coast of South America in 1499, gave the name Venezuela ("little Venice" in Spanish) to the Gulf of Venezuela, because of its imagined similarity to the famed Italian city.

Spain's

News of Spanish losses in the 1808 Napoleonic Wars soon reached Latin America, but only on 19 April 1810 did the "cabildo" (city council) of Caracas decide to follow the example set by the Spanish provinces two years earlier. On 5 July 1811, seven of the ten provinces of the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence in the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence. The First Republic of Venezuela was lost in 1812 following the 1812 Caracas earthquake and the Battle of La Victoria (1812). Simón Bolívar led an "Admirable Campaign" to retake Venezuela, establishing the Second Republic of Venezuela in 1813, but this did not last long either, falling to a combination of a local uprising and Spanish royalist reconquest.

In December 1819, the

Post independence

Spain and Venezuela established diplomatic relations in 1846 after the signing of a Treaty of Peace and Friendship.^[2] During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Venezuela, under President Eleazar López Contreras maintained diplomatic relations with General Francisco Franco.^{[citation needed]} From 1946–1958, Venezuela was the second biggest recipient of Spanish migrants (after Argentina) with over 45,000 Spanish migrants arriving to the country.^[3]

In October 1976, Spain King

Under the Presidency of Nicolás Maduro, relations between Spain and Venezuela are once again at a low point. In February 2017, Prime Minister Rajoy summoned the Venezuelan ambassador in Madrid after President Maduro insulted the Prime Minister after he requested that Venezuela should free the opposition leader Leopoldo López.^[8] In January 2018, the Venezuelan government expelled the Spanish ambassador accusing him of interfering in the internal affairs of Venezuela.^[9]

On 26 January 2019, in the context of the

Over the years, several agreements and treaties have been signed by both nations such as a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1882); Air Transportation Agreement (1972); Technical Cooperation Agreement (1974); Cultural Cooperation Agreement (1976); Extradition Treaty (1990); Agreement on Visa Suppression (1995) and an Agreement to avoid Double-Taxation (2008).[2]

Transportation

There are direct flights between Spain and Venezuela through the following airlines: Air Europa and Iberia.

Trade

In 2019, trade between Spain and Venezuela totaled €993 million Euros.^[12] Spanish exports to Venezuela include: food, automobile parts and electronic equipment. Venezuelan exports to Spain include: oil, fish, aluminum, chemical based products, iron and cacao.^[2] Spanish multinational companies such as Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Mapfre and Zara operate in Venezuela.

Resident diplomatic missions

• Spain has an embassy in Caracas.^[13]
• Venezuela has an embassy in Madrid^[14] and consulates-general in Barcelona,^[15] Bilbao,^[16] Santa Cruz de Tenerife,^[17] and Vigo.^[18]

• 
  Building hosting the embassy of Venezuela in Madrid
• 
  Consulate-General of Venezuela in Barcelona

See also

• Foreign relations of Spain
• Foreign relations of Venezuela
• Spanish immigration to Venezuela
• Venezuelans in Spain

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Relations of Spain and Venezuela.