The opposition Edmundo González Urrutia, who claims victory in the Venezuelan elections, met this Saturday with the Argentine president Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, where hundreds of Venezuelans came out to support him days before the debated inauguration of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.
González Urrutia, a 75-year-old diplomat, arrived in the Argentine capital with great stealth on Friday night from Madrid, where he has been exiled since September, to begin a tour that will also take him to Uruguay this Saturday, Panama on Wednesday and the Dominican Republic on Thursday.
González Urrutia assures that he will take office as president of Venezuela on Friday in place of Maduro.
He has a $100,000 reward offered this week by the Venezuelan scientific police for information leading to his capture. The candidate was ambassador in Buenos Aires in the early 2000s. “22 years later, I return as elected president of my country,” he wrote on the X network.
Groups of Venezuelans came to receive him in the central Plaza de Mayo, where the Casa Rosada (seat of government) stands, where the meeting is held.
With flags and posters like «Venezuela, you are not alone», They sang “Freedom, freedom!” among street vendors of arepas, the traditional corn bread of his country.
Luis Soto, a 27-year-old Venezuelan student who emigrated to Argentina more than six years ago, carried a sign that said “Do what is necessary, president.”
“Because they are going to be difficult days to get out of the tyranny we have,” he told AFP. “They are not going to be easy decisions, but let him do what is necessary, we trust him.” On Saturday afternoon, González Urrutia will meet in Montevideo with the Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou, and the chancellor, Omar Paganini.
González Urrutia was the unitary opposition candidate in the July 28 elections due to the banning of opposition leader María Corina Machado. He went into exile in Spain after being accused by the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office of “conspiracy” and “criminal association.”
The Venezuelan electoral authorities proclaimed Maduro re-elected for a third consecutive six-year term (2025-2031), without publishing details of the scrutiny so far, while the opposition denounces fraud and claims the victory of González Urrutia based on the publication of the 85% of the electoral records on a website.
“Maduro will never be able to show a single report because we devastated the entire country and they know it,” Machado wrote on the X network this Saturday, showing that according to this count, González obtained 67% of the votes.
Argentina is unaware of Maduro’s re-election, as is the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries.
More than 2,400 detainees
His proclamation sparked protests that left 28 dead and some 200 injured, in addition to 2,400 arrested. Three of those arrested died in prison and nearly 1,400 have been released on parole.
Maduro is preparing to be sworn in for a new period with the support of the Armed Forces, whose high command has declared “absolute loyalty” to him.
González’s visit to Argentina occurs in the midst of a worsening of tension between Caracas and Buenos Aires due to the arrest in Venezuela of the Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo, accused of “terrorism”, which led to a complaint before the Inter-American Commission on Rights. Human Rights (IACHR).
The relationship between Milei and Maduro was already tense, but it ended with the lack of knowledge of the electoral result in Venezuela.
The Argentine embassy in Caracas – which was taken into custody by Brazil – has sheltered six Machado collaborators since March, accused of “terrorism.” One of them renounced asylum in December and surrendered to the authorities. The other five are waiting for safe passage to leave the country.
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