MADRID- Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has cancelled his trip to Moscow to deal with the row over the purported support of former previous prime minister Jose Maria Aznar for the April 2002 coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

Last Monday, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said the previous Spanish ambassador to Venezuela had been instructed by Aznar’s government to back the failed coup.

On Tuesday, Chavez told the Senate, the Spanish parliament’s upper house, that Aznar’s government had supported the coup against him.

Zapatero was planning to travel to Moscow on Wednesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Spanish officials told EFE news agency that Zapatero hoped the decision to cancel the trip indicated his commitment to addressing the coup charges before parliament.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news