Caracas: Venezuela's Chavista-dominated National Assembly has declared former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez persona non grata.
The parliament's decision comes a day after the former prime minister's lawyer, Juan Carlos Gutierrez, confirmed on Tuesday Gonzalez's intention to travel soon to Venezuela to join the legal team of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, Spanish news agency Efe reported.
Lopez has been imprisoned for over a year on charges of public incitement, damage to property and arson in the wake of violent anti-government protests that erupted in Caracas on February 12, 2014, and persisted until May of that year, during which 43 people were killed.
On March 25, in response to Gonzalez's announcement of his intention to help defend Lopez when the matter goes to court, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez declared that the former prime minister did not have "authority either to practice law in Venezuela or to meddle in Venezuela's internal matter".
Legislator Yul Jabour, of the Communist Party of Venezuela, who tabled the proposal in parliament, said the decision to declare Gonzalez persona non grata was a "question of sovereignty".
"We are telling this gentleman, who was committed and is committed to upholding international law... who acted as an aggressor against international policy, that (this decision) is a question of sovereignty," Jabour said.
The assembly also agreed to reject resolutions by the Spanish parliament and calls from Colombian and Chilean senators for the release of both Lopez and Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, imprisoned on charges of conspiracy.
