The opposition leader Maria Corina Machado He assured that the departure of Venezuela of the presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiawho arrived in Spain this Sunday, was necessary to “preserve her freedom and her life” in the midst of a “brutal wave of repression.”
“His life was in dangerand the increasing threats, summons, arrest warrants and even attempts at blackmail and coercion to which he has been subjected, demonstrate that the regime has no scruples or limits in its obsession with silencing him and trying to subdue him,” he wrote on Sunday. Machado In X. “In the face of this brutal reality, it is necessary for our cause to preserve his freedom, his integrity and his life,” he concluded.
LOOK: Edmundo González Urrutia leaves Venezuela after receiving political asylum from Spain
González Urrutia arrived in Spain this Sundaywhich will grant him political asylum after his departure from Venezuela, where he had been in hiding for more than a month.
The Spanish Air Force plane carrying Gonzalez, who was travelling with his wife, landed at the Torrejon de Ardoz base, near Madrid, just after 4:00 p.m. local time (14:00 GMT), the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hours earlier, the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, had confirmed that González was travelling to Spain, where he would be granted political asylum.
Gonzalez “He has also requested asylum, which the Spanish government will of course process and grant,” the minister told the media accompanying him on an official trip to China from Oman.
The day before, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had called González a “hero whom Spain will not abandon” during a meeting of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) in Madrid.
“Sad day”
The departure of González Urrutia, a 75-year-old diplomat, from Venezuela comes amid a crisis unleashed after the presidential election in which Maduro was officially re-elected for a third six-year term amid allegations of fraud by the opposition.
“Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” said the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in a statement in which he assured that “in a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country.”
“The EU insists that the Venezuelan authorities end repression, arbitrary arrests and harassment against members of the opposition and civil society, and release all political prisoners,” the statement added.
González, who had been in hiding since July 30, spent time in the Dutch embassy in Caracas before moving to the Spanish embassy on September 5, Borrell said.
The opposition candidate claims to be the winner of the elections that, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), resulted in Maduro being re-elected.
To date, the electoral authority has not provided a detailed table-by-table scrutiny as required by law, arguing that its systems have been hacked.
Safe-conduct passes
Gonzalez’s departure was announced on Saturday by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who said the government had granted him the “due safe-conducts” for the “political peace of the country.”
“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,” said Vice President Delcy Rodríguez on her social networks.
Gonzalez’s legal horizon had darkened in recent days. The Venezuelan justice system, accused of serving Chavismo, is investigating the candidate for the dissemination of copies of the electoral records on a website that attribute the victory in the elections to him.
A court with jurisdiction over terrorism ordered his arrest on September 2, on charges including “disobedience of laws,” “conspiracy,” “usurpation of functions” and “sabotage” after failing to appear for three summonses.
