Venezuela's opposition leader leaves the country/ Seeks asylum in Spain

2024-09-08 13:54:12, Kosova & Bota CNA

Venezuela's opposition leader leaves the country/ Seeks asylum in Spain

Edmundo Gonzalez. Source: AP

The former opposition candidate in the presidential elections of Venezuela, Edmundo Gonzalez, left the country and went to Spain, where his request for political asylum was accepted.

The surprise departure of Gonzalez, who was hailed by some foreign governments and the opposition in Venezuela as the legitimate winner of July's presidential election, was announced late Saturday by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

She said the Venezuelan government has decided to provide Gonzalez with a safe way to leave the country, just days after an arrest warrant was issued for him.

Rodriguez said he was allowed to leave the country in order to "bring political peace and tranquility back to the country."

Neither Gonzalez nor opposition leader Maria Corina Machado have commented on his departure.

Meanwhile, Spain's government said Gonzalez decided to leave Venezuela on his own and that he left on a plane belonging to the country's Air Force.

Spain's foreign minister, Manuel Albares, told Spanish state broadcaster RTVE that the Spanish government will grant political asylum to Gonzalez as he requested.

"I was able to talk [with Gonzalez] and as soon as he got on the plane he expressed his gratitude to Spain and the Spanish Government. Of course I told him that we are happy that he is well and on his way to Spain", said Albares.

Albares said Gonzalez had spent several days at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas before leaving the country.

Gonzalez, a 75-year-old former diplomat, ran for president in the final moments after Machado was barred from running. He had been unknown to many Venezuelans, but his election campaign raised the hopes of millions of Venezuelans desperate for change, due to an economy in shambles in the last decade.

Until President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of the July election, most Western governments did not recognize his victory.

Meanwhile, ballots collected by opposition volunteers from two-thirds of the electronic voting machines show that Gonzalez won the election.

Ballots have been described as the final evidence of the election results in Venezuela.

In past presidential elections, the Central Election Commission always published the results online from each of the 30,000 voting machines, but the Maduro-controlled commission did not publish the results this time, allegedly blaming a cyber attack by his opponents in Macedonia. of the North.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a key ally of Maduro, sought Gonzalez's arrest after he failed three times to appear before authorities in connection with an investigation into alleged election sabotage.

Meanwhile, Spain has been a key country of asylum for Venezuelans, especially for those who have led the opposition against the Maduro regime./ REL