Edmundo González leaves Venezuela and heads to Spain after receiving political asylum
Edmundo González Urrutia left Venezuela on Saturday and is flying to Spain, the country that has granted him political asylum, according to diplomatic sources told EL PAÍS. The opposition candidate, who represented María Corina Machado in the last presidential elections, the result of which remains in doubt, held a meeting this Saturday morning with Spanish diplomats in a European embassy. According to these same sources, former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has played a key role in these negotiations. González Urrutia’s departure comes after a day of siege of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, where six advisors to opposition leader María Corina Machado are sheltering.
The diplomatic operation that has led to the asylum of Edmundo González has been underway for two weeks. On Friday, President Pedro Sánchez, in the Federal Committee of the PSOE, called Edmundo a “hero”, who was being pursued by the Chavista justice system for five inconsequential crimes, and assured that Spain was not going to abandon him. At that time it was known that the opposition leader was close to making a decision. This Saturday, while the safe-conduct passes were being prepared so that he could reach the airport and leave the country without being detained by the authorities, a Spanish military plane was waiting in the Dominican Republic to take him to Madrid as soon as possible.
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who has followed the situation and has spoken with the opposition leader from the official plane on a trip by the Prime Minister to China, has assured journalists following the trip that Edmundo González’s departure is at his request, not at the initiative of Spain. “González has requested the right of asylum and Spain will of course grant it to him. I have been able to speak with him, he has conveyed his gratitude to me and I have conveyed to him my joy that he is well.”
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