Esteban González Pons, a spokesman for the PP, accused the Spanish government of being “an accomplice of the regime of Nicolás Maduro in the plan to neuter the democratic opposition” and condemned what he described as the “connivance of Spain in a coup d’état”.

Spain has denied involvement in talks between Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez and President Nicolas Maduro's government for his flight to Spain, before which he signed a letter saying he accepted Maduro's election victory.

Two Spaniards, three U.S. citizens and a Czech have been arrested in Venezuela on suspicion of links to alleged plans to destabilize the South American country, a top Venezuela official said on Saturday.