Edmundo González, an opponent of dictator Nicolás Maduro, went to Spain last Saturday (7). The departure of the former candidate occurred a week after the arrest warrant issued by the Venezuelan Justice Department.
González, who had taken refuge in the Spanish embassy in Venezuela after being targeted by Chavista persecution, arrived in the country on a Spanish Air Force plane, according to José Manuel Albares, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to Albares, the request for political asylum will be processed and granted by Spain. “The Government of Spain has provided the diplomatic and material means necessary for his transfer, carried out at his request,” states a brief statement published on the ministry’s website.
The Spanish foreign minister denied that he had negotiated any agreement with the Maduro regime to grant political asylum to González.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp reported that the former candidate had been secretly staying at the Dutch embassy in Caracas for over a month. It is most likely that on the 5th, González went to the residence of the Spanish embassy.
María Corina asks Lula to be firmer about the situation in Venezuela
On Friday (6), María Corina Machado, opposition leader, called on President Lula to adopt a firmer stance against the results of the Venezuelan elections. “We need the international community, especially Brazil and President Lula, to raise their voices so that the repression ends,” said Machado, in an interview with journalist Andréia Sadi, GloboNews.
The presidential election results show that González won the election, but the decision by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) indicated that Maduro was the winner. The CNE’s decision was later ratified by the country’s Supreme Court of Justice, which is also under Maduro’s command.
González was not the first choice to oppose the dictator. The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) coalition chose the former ambassador as its presidential candidate after the CNE blocked the initial candidacies. Previously, the body rejected the candidacies of María Corina Machado, leader of the coalition, and Corina Yoris. According to the minutes, González won the election with 80% of the votes.
Corina Machado said this Sunday (8) that González’s life was at risk in Venezuela.
“His life was in danger, and the increasing threats, subpoenas, arrest warrants and even attempts at blackmail and coercion to which he was subjected demonstrate that the regime has no scruples or limits in its obsession with silencing him and trying to bend him,” the opposition leader wrote in X, according to the Venezuelan newspaper. The National.