CARACAS/MADRID (Reuters) -Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez flew into Spain on Sunday to hunt asylum, Madrid stated, hours after quitting his nation amid a political and diplomatic disaster over July’s disputed election.
Gonzalez – who has challenged President Nicolas Maduro’s declaration of victory – arrived on the Torrejon de Ardoz navy base together with his spouse, Spain’s overseas ministry stated in a press release.
The dramatic exit of the 75-year-old – seen by the U.S., the EU and different powers within the area because the winner of the vote – got here every week after Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for him, accusing him of conspiracy and different crimes.
“Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” European Union overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell stated in a press release. “In a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country.”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez stated on Instagram authorities had given Gonzalez secure passage in a bid to revive “political peace”.
He left Venezuela after “voluntarily seeking refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas several days ago,” she wrote.
Venezuela’s opposition say the July 28 election resulted in a powerful victory for Gonzalez, and printed vote tallies on-line that they are saying present he gained.
Maduro has dismissed all such assertions and says there was a right-wing plot to sabotage his authorities.
Gonzalez’s transfer to Spain marked one other jolting shift within the fortunes of the previous diplomat who got here out of retirement and took over the candidacy in March, initially as a placeholder after opposition chief Maria Corina Machado after which one other alternative couldn’t stand.
Machado confirmed on X that Gonzalez was now in Spain.
She added that it was “necessary for our cause to preserve his freedom, his integrity and his life” after “increasing threats, summons, arrest warrants and even the blackmail and coercion attempts” by the Venezuelan authorities. There was no fast response to her assertion by the authorities.
EMBASSIES, TALKS
Spain’s overseas ministry stated Gonzalez’s asylum course of would now begin – “the resolution of which will be favourable in view of Spain’s commitment to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelan men and women, especially political leaders”.
Gonzalez had sought refuge within the Dutch after which the Spanish embassy in Venezuela after the election, Dutch and Venezuelan officers stated.
Dutch International Minister Caspar Veldkamp stated in a letter to his parliament on Sunday that Gonzalez had urgently requested refuge within the Dutch embassy the day after the election.
“At the beginning of September, Edmundo Gonzalez indicated that he … wanted to leave and continue his fight from Spain”, Veldkamp added.
Spanish officers, together with former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, held every week of negotiations with Venezuelan authorities for Gonzalez to depart the nation, a supply with information of the talks advised Reuters, talking on situation of anonymity.
