{"id":88786,"date":"2024-09-08T07:03:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T07:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/09\/08\/venezuelas-opposition-leader-leaves-country-for-spain-2\/"},"modified":"2024-09-08T07:03:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T07:03:10","slug":"venezuelas-opposition-leader-leaves-country-for-spain-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/venezuelas-opposition-leader-leaves-country-for-spain-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela\u2019s opposition leader leaves country for Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Venezuelan government has said opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez has left the country, seeking asylum in Spain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Gonz\u00e1lez has been in hiding, and a warrant issued for his arrest after the opposition disputed July\u2019s presidential election result \u2013 in which the government-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicol\u00e1s Maduro the winner.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s Vice-President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez said in a post on social media that after \u201cvoluntarily\u201d seeking refuge at the Spanish embassy in Caracas some days ago, Mr Gonzalez asked the Spanish government for political asylum.<\/p>\n

She added that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage and that he had left.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares said Mr Gonz\u00e1lez had departed the country at his own request, and on a Spanish Air Force plane.<\/p>\n

He added that Spain\u2019s government was committed to the political rights of all Venezuelans.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Mr Gonz\u00e1lez confirmed to AFP news agency he had left the country for Spain, but did not give any further detail.<\/p>\n

While he has departed, security forces in Venezuela\u00a0have surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital, Caracas.<\/p>\n

Six political opponents of President Maduro are sheltering there. The country\u2019s foreign ministry alleged that terrorist acts were being plotted inside.<\/p>\n

Venezuela has been in a political crisis since authorities declared President Maduro the victor of the 28 July election.<\/p>\n

The opposition claimed it had evidence Mr Gonz\u00e1lez had won by a comfortable margin, and uploaded detailed voting tallies to the internet which suggest Mr Gonz\u00e1lez beat Mr Maduro convincingly.<\/p>\n

A number of countries, including the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries, have refused to recognize President Maduro as the winner without Caracas releasing detailed voting data.<\/p>\n

The government of President Maduro has detained more than 2,400 people since the election, creating what the UN has called \u201ca climate of fear\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Gonz\u00e1lez had been in hiding since 30 July, fearing arrest following statements made by leading government politicians who said he should be \u201cbehind bars\u201d.<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, has accused Mr Gonz\u00e1lez of conspiracy and of forging documents, among other \u201cserious crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old had not been widely known before March this year, when the main opposition coalition registered him as its candidate.<\/p>\n

The opposition\u2019s original choice for presidential candidate had been the charismatic Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, who had won an open primary with 93% of votes.<\/p>\n

But when her efforts to overturn a ban which barred her from running from public office were rebuffed by the government-controlled authorities, the opposition had to find an alternative candidate.<\/p>\n

After another opposition candidate was also barred, the opposition put forward Mr Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Fearing he too could be barred from running, the opposition kept Mr Gonz\u00e1lez in the background, while Ms Machado criss-crossed the country calling on people to vote for him.<\/p>\n

On election night, Mr Gonz\u00e1lez appeared side-by-side with Mar\u00eda Corina Machado disputing the announcement by the CNE, which had declared Mr Maduro the winner with 52% of the votes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post Venezuela\u2019s opposition leader leaves country for Spain<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Venezuelan government has said opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez has left the country, seeking asylum in Spain. Mr Gonz\u00e1lez has been in hiding, and a warrant issued for his arrest after the opposition disputed July\u2019s presidential election result \u2013 in which the government-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicol\u00e1s Maduro the winner. Venezuela\u2019s Vice-President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}