This is CBSI on the world.

I'm John Batchel.

Venezuela, the flotilla, the threats, the risk, the dictator Maduro, the opposition Machado receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

All of this is part of the conversation in Spain, mother country. And most recently,

Mary Anastasia Grady of the Americas editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal

Editorial Board returns from Madrid, having spoken with Ms. Avarais de Toledo, a member of the

Congress. She is in what would be the House of Representatives,

and she is outspoken about the linkage between the leadership of Spain, past and present,

and the Maduro regime, not the opposition elected in 2024 by legitimate means. Mary, welcome home and congratulations

for introducing me to a whole new world. I've wondered about Mother Britain. I've wondered about

Mother Spain for some time, but I'd never investigated to the point of learning a man named

Zapatero was Prime Minister until 2011, and now a man named Sanchez

has been prime minister since 2018. I've known that Spain has a reputation of being an outlier,

a socialist government. But what's in it for them to link with Maduro? What do they get out of it?

Good evening to you. Well, good evening, John.

I think the main link between the government of Pedro Sanchez, the socialist government,

and Maduro is ideology. I mean, they both believe in sort of this power game where they come

into power, they change the institutions, they consolidate the power, and they never leave.

And that's a lot tougher to do in Spain than it was to do in Venezuela, because Venezuela, all of the economy was centered on the oil.

And so once you got control of the oil, you had control of the country.

And so that's how Chavez destroyed all the institutions.

Tougher to do in Spain.

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