MADRID/CARACAS, Sept 8 (Askume) – Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez arrived in Spain on Sunday to seek asylum, Madrid said, but left his country hours later amid a political and diplomatic crisis over disputed elections in July.
Gonzalez, who had challenged President Nicolas Maduro’s declaration of victory, arrived at the Torrejon de Aldos military base with his wife, Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The 75-year-old leader is seen as the winner of the controversial vote by the United States , the European Union and other major powers in the region. A week before the leader resigned, Venezuelan officialsA warrant was issued for his arrest, accusing him of conspiracy and other offenses .
“Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. “In a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a post on the messaging platform X that Gonzalez “remains democracy’s best hope.” He added, “We must not allow Maduro and his proxies to hold on to power by force.”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Instagram that authorities had granted Gonzalez safe passage to restore “political peace.” Spain’s foreign ministry said it had not yet held formal talks with the Venezuelan government on Gonzalez’s return.
Venezuela’s opposition said Gonzalez won a landslide victory in the July 28 election and posted results online showing he won.
Maduro has denied all such claims and said that a right-wing conspiracy is being hatched to harm his government.
Gonzalez’s move to Spain marks another major change in fortunes for the former diplomat, who came out of retirement in March and began campaigning, initially against opposition leader Maria Colina Macha, with Maria Corina Machado serving as a replacement, and later another replacement emerged.
Machado confirmed on X that González was now in Spain and said he had fled to protect his “freedom, his integrity and his life”.
“The growing number of threats, summons, arrest warrants and even extortion and pressure attempts against him show that the regime’s obsession with suppressing and undermining him knows no limits or hesitation,” he wrote.
Machado said Gonzalez would continue to fight for the Spanish opposition and she would continue to do so in Venezuela, promising she would be sworn in on Jan. 10, 2025, when the next presidential term begins.
Embassy, negotiations
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alberez told Spanish television that he had told Gonzalez that “anyone whose personal safety or fundamental rights are at risk will be welcomed by Spain and its embassy.”
He said plans had been underway for several days to transfer him to Spain and the Foreign Ministry said Gonzalez’s asylum proceedings would now begin.
Dutch and Venezuelan officials said that after the election, González took refuge first in the Netherlands and later in the Spanish embassy in Venezuela.
Dutch Foreign Minister Kaspar Wildkamp said in a letter to parliament on Sunday that Gonzalez requested asylum at the Dutch embassy shortly after the election.
“In early September Edmundo Gonzalez said he…wanted to leave Spain and continue his fight from there,” Wildkamp said.
Spanish officials, including former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who has maintained diplomatic ties with the South American country in the past, are attending meetings with González and Venezuelan officials and participating in the talks.
Opposition urges more protests
Maduro allowed Gonzalez to leave despite an arrest warrant, seeking to ease the harsh international criticism he has faced recently.
However, Machado is under investigation and has been held in an undisclosed location since the vote, rarely coming out to lead rallies. Gonzalez’s departure came less than 24 hours after security forces surrounded Argentina’s former embassy in Caracas, now protected by Brazil and where six opposition staffers have been hiding since an arrest warrant was issued in March.
Justice Minister Tarek Saab, who this week met with Gonzalez’s lawyers and one of the opposition’s most strident accusers, said at a news conference on Sunday that the government knew the “precise time” Gonzalez entered the Spanish embassy and had agreed to allow him access through safe exit lanes.
In a recording obtained by Askume after he arrived in Spain, Gonzalez said his departure from Caracas was “full of pressure, coercion and threats.”
“I am confident that we will continue to fight for the restoration of freedom and democracy in Venezuela soon,” González said.
The opposition is pushing for more street protests and international pressure to have its victory recognised, but those strategies have so far failed to bear fruit as attendance at anti-government rallies has dwindled.
