Maduro rival González flees Venezuela – asylum in Spain

Following the controversial presidential election in Venezuela, opposition candidate Edmundo González has gone into hiding. He has now applied for asylum in Spain.

Caracas – About six weeks after the controversial Presidential election in Venezuela is Opposition candidate Edmundo González He had himself flown to Spain by Spanish Air Force plane. This was announced by Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares on Platform X.

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez wrote on Instagramthat González had been staying in the Spanish embassy in the capital Caracas for days. He had EUcountry and the Venezuelan government granted him safe passage in the interests of political peace. The opposition initially made no public statements on this.

González is wanted in Venezuela with an arrest warrant – opposition candidate lost in elections against Maduro

González’s lawyer, José Vicente Haro, confirmed the Vice President’s information. According to the Foreign Ministry in Madrid, González flew to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane. The opposition politician last appeared in public two days after the election and then went into hiding. His situation was made worse by a Arrest warrant for alleged abuse of office, forgery and connections to financiers of “terrorism”. González ignored three summonses and continued to remain a secret in public.

On July 28, the largely pro-government electoral authority declared authoritarian head of state Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner, and this was confirmed shortly afterwards by the Supreme Court, which is also pro-government. However, the government did not publish the detailed results.

Maduro wins again: Allegation of electoral fraud in Venezuela election

The opposition accused her of electoral fraud and claimed victory for González. The 75-year-old became a candidate after opposition leader María Corina Machado was banned from holding public office for 15
years due to alleged irregularities during her time as a member of parliament. Several South American countries, the USA and the EU doubted the official election result.

Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was not recognized by many countries. In 2019, Parliament President Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president, but was unable to assert himself in the country – mainly because the military was behind Maduro. In this year’s elections, there was hope that the opposition would realistic chances of winning. In the course of the election, Protestswhich were violently suppressed by the state executive. According to the human rights organization Provea, 25 people were killed and more than 2,400 were arrested. (lismah/dpa/AFP)