By BBC News World
08 Sep 2024, 00:16 AM EDT
Edmundo González, the opposition candidate in the elections of July 28 in Venezuela, has left the country.
This was announced by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez via her Instagram account.
The statement said Gonzalez had sought refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas for several days and had requested political asylum.
“Venezuela has granted the necessary safe-conducts for the sake of the country’s tranquility and political peace,” added the statement published by Rodríguez.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed the news through his X account.
“Edmundo González, at his request, flies to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane,” he wrote.
He added that the Spanish government “is committed to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans.”
González represented the Venezuelan opposition in the presidential elections, after Maria Corina Machado was disqualified from running.
According to the minutes published by the opposition after the elections, González won by a large majority.
The National Electoral Council, however, declared Nicolás Maduro the winner, a result that has been questioned internationally since the minutes confirming it have not been published.
On August 22, the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela validated the results that gave Maduro the victory.
On Monday, September 2, a Venezuelan judge ordered the arrest of Edmundo González for alleged “usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobedience of laws, conspiracy, sabotage of systems and crimes of association.”
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