Delcy Rodríguez initiates legal actions against Aldama for slander: the businessman affirmed that he handed her an envelope from the oil company PDVSA

The Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, has initiated legal proceedings against the businessman Víctor de Aldama following his statements in which he claimed to have received an envelope from the Venezuelan leader related to the state oil company PDVSA and a supposed plot of irregular financing linked to the PSOE. According to 'El Mundo', Rodríguez has begun the necessary preliminary steps to take the case to court.

According to the documentation consulted by the aforementioned media, the Venezuelan official has registered a request for a conciliation act in Madrid, a preliminary step to filing a complaint for defamation. The legal strategy is being managed by Ilocad, the law firm founded by the former judge Baltasar Garzón, with whom Rodríguez maintains a close professional relationship.

In the document submitted to the Justice system – transmitted by 'El Mundo' – the leader rejects the statements made by Aldama during several television appearances last February. Her defense has alleged that "the statement consisting of the imputation of an act to Ms. Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez, consisting of her handing the aforementioned envelope to the requested party – Aldama – is untrue, false, or not in accordance with reality." However, as 'El Mundo' recalls, Aldama not only made these statements in the media but also presented them before the Audiencia Nacional during his judicial declarations, even handing over the said envelope to the Justice system.

Sources close to the businessman consulted by the newspaper assure that there is no intention to rectify his statements, so they anticipate that the conciliation act will conclude without an agreement between the parties. If this position is maintained, Rodríguez will have to formalize a criminal complaint so that a judge can determine the veracity of the accusations and resolve the judicial conflict opened between them.