Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe, Alejandro Fleming claims victory over opposition roving diplomat, Milos Alcalay and Chacao Mayor Leopoldo Lopez!

Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe, Alejandro Fleming is claiming victory over opposition roving diplomat, Milos Alcalay and Chacao Mayor Leopoldo Lopez, leaders of an intense lobby to have Venezuela condemned in a European Union Parliament plenary session this afternoon. The Minister insists that the resolution against Venezuela was passed but with only 6.5% of votes from right-wing and extreme right EU votes.

The resolution condemned firstly the use of political disqualification to prevent opposition candidates such as Lopez from running for office because of corruption and malfeasance charges and secondly, the expulsion of Washington-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) directors.

Fleming highlights the fact that only 51 euro-deputies out of 783 voted in favor of the resolutions, even though there had been a quorum of more than 500 deputies to vote on matters concerning the 2009 budget earlier on in the afternoon.

Fleming adds that the same deputies that voted against Venezuela are protagonists of the infamous "Return Directive" against Latin American migrants. The resolution on the disqualification charge reads that the EU Parliament "expresses concern about the list of electoral disqualifications ... long series of measures taken by the government with a view to intimidating opposition members, dissidents and international observers in the country".

The expulsion of HRW directors is considered a "serious precedent as regards respect for freedom of expression and the right to criticize." In somewhat contradictory advice, the resolution calls on President Chavez to "put an end to all such practices and foster a more participative democracy in Venezuela, in full compliance with the principles laid down in the 1999 Constitution".

Surprisingly, the EU Parliament accepted to include the complicated case of Julio Soto, a Zulia University student leader and Christian Socialist leader, shot dead two weeks ago. The Parliament defends its interest in the case demanding that the Venezuelan government "clear up (the crime) ... committed under strange circumstances" and bring the perpetrators and those responsible to justice. The resolutions were passed 50-1.

A Pyrrhic victory for Lopez, who has been blowing his own trumpet in the disqualification process, and roving diplomat, Milos Alcalay.