By Deutsche Welle
30 Jul 2024, 20:33 PM EDT
Costa Rica has offered political asylum to opposition candidate Edmundo González and leader María Corina Machado in Venezuela, the Central American country’s foreign minister, Arnoldo André, announced.
“We are willing to grant political asylum, refuge in Costa Rica, to both María Corina Machado and Edmundo González and to any other person politically persecuted in Venezuela.”, the minister said in a video released to the press.
Hours after Sunday’s election in Venezuela, the ruling National Electoral Center (CNE) announced that President Nicolas Maduro had won 51.2 percent of the vote, ahead of Gonzalez’s 44.2 percent, but the opposition rejected the results and denounced fraud.
There are “arrest warrants” against both of them
“We have been informed that There are arrest warrants and capture orders against María Corina Machado and Edmundo González in Venezuela”André said, justifying the offer of asylum.
In a response on his X account, Machado thanked “the generous hospitality of the Costa Rican government” in the face of “the brutal repression of the Maduro regime.” He added that his “priority is the protection of our fellow asylum seekers in the Argentine Embassy.”
“My responsibility is to continue this fight alongside the people. From Venezuela, thank you to the beloved people and the government of Costa Rica,” Machado said, apparently ruling out the possibility of leaving his country.
Maduro blamed both opposition leaders for the “violence” of the last few hours in Venezuela, while top government and armed forces officials claimed that the Chavista regime is facing “an attempted coup d’état.”
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