Spanish government promises support to Spanish farmers in Venezuela

Trinidad Jiménez, Spanish Secretary of State for Ibero-America, said that her government would effectively advocate the interests of Spanish residents in Venezuela, and pointed to appropriate 'consular methods' to meet their needs, Efe reported. This was her answer at the Spanish Senate Commission of Ibero-American Affairs to a question made by a group of the People's Party (PP) about the troubles faced by Spanish-Venezuelan farmers whose property was illegally occupied two years ago in some Venezuelan states. PP spokesman Dionisio García Carnero lamented that Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Ángel Moratinos, did not meet during his visit last week to Caracas with a group of these farmers, as he had promised. Jiménez said that Moratinos did meet with Spanish consular officials, who visit also the troublesome places and get in touch with Spanish-Venezuelans to 'try to solve their conflicts.' She reported that in central-northern Yaracuy state, 11 cases have been solved in close cooperation with the National Lands Institute, and additional 60 cases are in the process of being settled.