 "The opposition's presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez shows his ballot as he votes in the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)")
Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, who was touted as the “true winner” of the elections held in the country, has fled amid a looming arrest warrant. Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on Saturday that González left the country for Spain.
Rodríguez confirmed the news in an Instagram post on Saturday. She maintained that the Venezuelan opposition leader left the Spanish embassy where he was seeking asylum.
“Today, September 7, the opposition citizen Edmundo González Urrutia has left the country, who, having voluntarily taken refuge at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Caracas for several days, requested before that government the processing of political asylum,” Rodríguez said in a statement she shared on Instagram.
“In this regard, once the pertinent contacts between both governments had taken place, the facts of the case had been met and in compliance with international legality, Venezuela has granted the due safe conduct for the sake of the tranquillity and political peace of the country. This conduct reaffirms the respect for the law that has prevailed in the actions of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the international community,” she added.
The looming arrest warrant
Venezuela has been embroiled in a major political crisis since authorities declared that the country’s President Nicolás Maduro won the highly contentious polls on July 28. For days, González has been in hiding in the Spanish embassy, and an arrest warrant was issued after the disputed results of the elections.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe opposition has maintained that it has evidence that González had won by a comfortable margin. They shared the voting tally to support their arguments, following which the US and several other Latin American nations considered González as the winner.
Before leaving the country, the Venezuelan leader has been accused of ignoring three successive summons to appear before prosecutors. The arrest warrant came as post-election violence continues to grapple Venezuela and has already claimed 27 lives. In their crackdown on the protests, the Maduro administration has arrested 2,400 people, and most of them have been sent to high-security prisons.
With inputs from agencies.