Before the presidential inauguration in Venezuela, Edmundo González Urrutia will travel to the United States and speak with Joe Biden

After his time at the Casa Rosada, where he received a huge ovation in Plaza de Mayo, the Venezuelan Edmundo González Urrutia continues a short tour of Latin America. After a visit to Uruguay, the president-elect He will travel on Saturday night to the United States to meet with Joe Biden.

González Urrutia, who claims to have won the elections against Nicolás Maduro and is recognized by Argentina and other countries as the legitimate elected president, began an international tour to receive the support of the international community, after a brief exile in Madrid.

At a press conference, confirmed that he will fly to the United States on Saturday night after a brief stopover in Uruguay during the afternoon. The tour also includes Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Although he clarified that his agenda in the United States is still being defined, González announced that “he contemplates meetings with the political leaders represented in Congress.”

“We also have a conversation planned with President (Joe) Biden and we await definitions regarding the new authorities, which are not yet defined,” he said regarding a possible rapprochement with Donald Trump, who must take office on January 20.

Ten days before, next Friday, January 10, The new Venezuelan president is scheduled to take office and begin his mandate in the country. González Urrutia, against whom there is an arrest warrant, promised to return to Venezuela that day.

In last year’s elections, which were widely questioned due to a lack of transparency and independent verification, Maduro was proclaimed the winner by the electoral authority of the Chavista regime without the results sheets having been released until now—more than five months later.

The opposition, for its part, also claimed electoral victory for itself. presenting more than 80% of the voting records that gave a 2 to 1 advantage for González Urrutia against Maduro, who was seeking re-election for a third term. Countries like the United States referred to him as president-elect and questioned Maduro’s victory without disseminating the results.

“The Venezuelan people spoke out forcefully on July 28 and named Edmundo González Urrutia as president-elect,” the Biden government said last November, through Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“By any means I will be there,” González Urrutia reaffirmed to journalists at the doors of the chancellery after meeting with Milei in the Casa Rosada and going out to the traditional balcony to greet the followers, who chanted “freedom, freedom.” .

“We are very pleased by the reception we have had, the company of the Venezuelans and many others who have spent these hours here in Buenos Aires with us, expressing their solidarity and who are committed to this fight,” he added.

However, it is currently unknown when or how the 75-year-old opposition leader would enter the country. Venezuelan police offered a reward of $100,000 on Thursday for information that leads to the arrest of the former opposition candidate.

In a statement subsequently issued by the Argentine Presidency, Milei confirmed that “Argentina will not be complicit in silence in the face of the injustices and abuses of the Maduro regime.”

“Our position is clear: freedom, justice and democracy for all Venezuelans,” emphasized the president, who stressed the need to strengthen regional collaboration to build a prosperous Latin America free of any type of government “of dubious democratic quality.”