Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez flew into Spain on Sunday to seek asylum, Madrid said, hours after quitting his country amid a political and diplomatic crisis over July's disputed election.
Gonzalez - who has challenged President Nicolas Maduro's declaration of victory - arrived at the Torrejon de Ardoz military base with his wife, Spain's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The exit of the 75-year-old - seen by the U.S., the EU and other powers in the region as the winner of the disputed vote - came a week after Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for him, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes.
"Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela," European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. "In a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country."
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Instagram authorities had given Gonzalez safe passage in a bid to restore "political peace". Spain's foreign ministry said there had been no official talks with the Venezuelan government on Gonzalez's exit.
Venezuela's opposition say the July 28 election resulted in a resounding victory for Gonzalez, and published vote tallies online that they say show he won.
Maduro has dismissed all such assertions and says there was a right-wing plot to sabotage his government.
Gonzalez's move to Spain marked another jolting shift in the fortunes of the former diplomat who came out of retirement and took over the candidacy in March, initially as a placeholder after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and then another replacement could not stand.
Machado confirmed on X that Gonzalez was now in Spain, adding he had fled to protect his "freedom, his integrity and his life".
"The increasing threats, summons, arrest warrants and even the attempts at blackmail and coercion to which he has been subjected show that the regime has no scruples or limits in its obsession to silence him and try to break him," she wrote.
Gonzalez would continue to fight for the opposition from Spain, while she would continue to do so within Venezuela, Machado said, and vowed that he would be sworn in on Jan. 10, 2025, when the next presidential term begins.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Spanish TV he had told Gonzalez "any person whose physical integrity or fundamental rights may be endangered would be welcomed in Spain and its embassy."
He added that his relocation to Spain had been planned for days and the foreign ministry said Gonzalez's asylum process would now start.
Gonzalez had sought refuge in the Dutch and then the Spanish embassy in Venezuela after the election, Dutch and Venezuelan officials said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said in a letter to his parliament on Sunday that Gonzalez had urgently requested refuge in 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 officials, including former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, linked to diplomatic relations in the South American country in the past, were involved in a week of negotiations with Venezuelan authorities for Gonzalez to leave the country, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
That Maduro allowed Gonzalez's departure despite the arrest warrant he was facing may soften some harsh recent international criticism of him.
Machado, though, remains subject of an investigation and has largely been sequestered at an unknown location since the vote, emerging only occasionally to lead rallies. Gonzalez's departure came less than 24 hours after security forces surrounded Argentina's former embassy in Caracas, now being protected by Brazil, where six opposition staffers have been sheltering since warrants were issued for them in March.
Attorney General Tarek Saab, who met with Gonzalez's lawyer this week and who has been one of the opposition's most strident accusers, held a press conference Sunday saying the government knew the "exact moment" Gonzalez entered the Spanish embassy and agreed to give him safe passage to leave the country.
In a recording obtained by Reuters after Gonzalez arrived in Spain, he said his exit from Caracas was "surrounded by pressure, coercion and threats."
"I trust that we'll soon continue the fight for liberty and the return to democracy in Venezuela," Gonzalez said.
The opposition is pressing for more street protests and international pressure for its victory to be recognized, but so far those tactics have borne no fruit amid waning attendance at anti-government rallies.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
17 Comments
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TaiwanIsNotChina
Good to see he made it out. Like all dictatorships, Maduro is just collecting political opponents indefinitely. It is a sad choice those in favor democracy have to make whether to stay or leave.
RichardPearce
So, after the first Venezuelan election the 'opposition' decided to 'dispute' they were able to seize control of the government and military, air their propaganda on all media, and kidnap the democratically elected President, before the massive prodemocracy demonstrations convinced them to accept their defeat.
After the second election the 'opposition' decided to 'dispute', they were able to disrupt the capital and other cities, seize control over a border crossing, but, again, the massive prodemocracy demonstrations convinced them to accept their defeat.
After the third election the 'opposition' decided to 'dispute', they managed to disrupt a few districts in a few city, got a low level politician to declare himself the 'legitimate President', again mass prodemocracy demonstrations appeared, but instead of accepting defeat, their 'President' fled the country, and the backer of the 'opposition', the American government, stole tens of millions of dollars from the Venezuelan population (along with several pieces of very valuable property) and gave it to the fraud.
Now, for the 4th time the 'opposition' disputed the election (this time, the claims haven't been decisively and in detail debunked, YET, so no quote marks for disputed) with their self declared 'President' fleeing the country (and probably going to get whatever stolen money is left over, plus a newly stolen jet) without having been able to raise enough local support to disrupt anything enough for the prodemocracy demonstrations to be necessary.
Wonder in 5 years time who's going to front for the American government as the 'opposition' (note there's several actual opposition parties that play by the rules of democracy that includes accepting the results of an internationally monitored election) and what the American government will be able to steal from Venezuelans and give in exchange.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Most of Latin America does not recognize the shame election result. When the whole world is against you, sometimes it is just you that is the problem.
TaiwanIsNotChina
*sham
JJE
Important to observe a majority in the OAS did not condemn Maduro.
And the opposition is funded by the usual suspects up north.
JJE
Now that's interesting. Was clear from the outset the anti-govt rallies were over-hyped and over-sold in the western media.
Suspect we won't hear much from Gonzalez going forward as he inevitably fades into obscurity just like self-appointed Guaido and those others before him.
Eastmann
where is Guaido now?
no word for months?
he was so larger opposition leader in Venezuela abut seems that he is gone like first snow in november?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Enjoying life in Miami, where filthy animals can't get to him.
burgers and beers
That makes it two US sponsored color revolution / coup attempts in Venezuela that had failed.
TaiwanIsNotChina
And yet clearly 95% of Latin America is not terrified of colors and don't think colors are at fault here.
JJE
How cute. They used Spain to pretend Washington isn't neck deep in behind-the-scenes backdoor machinations with this so-called "opposition", who amount to a proxy movement bankrolled and directed by the US.
No one is fooled by this charade and fundamental lack of decency. Gonzalez will fade from view faster than they can pump smoke through a transparent trumpet, especially as the US realizes he is not much use to them.
Interesting Machado remains in Venezuela unmolested. Makes one wonder. Looks like this is more of a staged thing, heavily exaggerated if not outright embellished.
TaiwanIsNotChina
If the entire free world is against you, you might be one of the bad guys.
quercetum
Another one of US shenanigans. Whistleblowers should not be forced to do so as well.
quercetum
The Spanish Prime Minister is in Beijing today for a meeting with Xi Jingping who will give advice and set the record straight
TokyoLiving
Go away and take hide loser..
factchecker
Go away and take hide loser..
Their country, their system.
theFu
Venezuela is a dictatorship trying to act like a democracy. Nobody is buying it. Other dictators are happy because they know the election was a fraud that was clearly faked and nobody came in and shot the fake winner.
Nicaragua is very happy. Another dictatorship.
Iran is very happy. The Supreme leader there is another dictator.
Cuba is happy, Russia is happy, Belarus and China are happy ... more dictators.
Read that Nicaragua took away citizenship of over 130 political opponents there and confiscated all their wealth. Maduro will be doing that soon since it worked in Nicaragua already - the wealth will be added to his personal accounts. They will all be using the same "steal from your opponents" playbook soon.
Once those dictators are yanked from office, they will be tried and probably killed for the evil they did while retaining power.