Opposition leader Edmundo González leaves Venezuela and takes refuge in Spain after receiving political asylum | La Verdad

The Spanish government announced in the early hours of Sunday that it will welcome Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who has already left Caracas on a Spanish Air Force plane.

“Edmundo González has taken off from Caracas to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane. The Spanish Government has arranged the diplomatic means and materials necessary for his transfer, which was carried out at his request,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has announced on his x account (formerly Twitter) that “at his own request, he is flying to Spain” and has stressed his commitment “to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans.” On the Foreign Ministry website, a more explicit reference is made to Spain’s commitment to “the political leaders” of Venezuela.

In hiding since July 30th

The lawyer for opposition candidate José Vicente Haro has confirmed that his client left the country early Sunday morning. Haro has been in hiding since July 30, wanted by the Venezuelan justice system.

González was the subject of an arrest warrant issued at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, which had summoned him on three occasions as part of an investigation into alleged crimes linked to the publication on the Internet of documentation that would prove Maduro’s defeat and disprove the data of the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Previously, Venezuela’s Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez announced that González Urrutia had left the country with a safe-conduct pass granted “for the sake of political peace and tranquility.”

“Today, September 7, opposition citizen Edmundo González Urrutia left the country. Having voluntarily sought refuge in the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Caracas for several days, he requested political asylum from that government,” he explained on his Instagram account.

The Venezuelan authorities have granted the opposition leader safe conduct after having maintained the “relevant contacts” with the Spanish Government and, “once the extremes of the case have been fulfilled and in compliance with international law”, the doors have been opened for the opposition leader to leave the diplomatic headquarters and travel to Spanish territory.

The Venezuelan representative argued that this action “reaffirms the respect” of the Venezuelan authorities for “international law.”

Other Venezuelan opposition leaders already reside in Spain, such as the former mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma or the member of Voluntad Popular Leopoldo López, who escaped from Caracas in October 2020 after taking refuge in the Spanish Embassy, ​​EP recalls.