The Venezuelan authorities mentioned Saturday opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who disputed President Nicolas Maduro’s July 28 reelection, has left the nation to hunt asylum in Spain.
Gonzalez Urrutia had been in hiding for a month, ignoring three successive summons to seem earlier than prosecutors, saying attending the listening to may have price his freedom.
“After taking refuge voluntarily on the Spanish embassy in Caracas a couple of days in the past, (Gonzalez Urrutia) requested the Spanish authorities for political asylum,” Venezuela’s vice chairman mentioned on social media, including that Caracas had agreed to his protected passage.
Madrid’s Overseas Minister Jose Manuel Albares mentioned on X that Gonzalez Urrutia “at his request” had departed on a Spanish navy airplane, including that Spain was “dedicated to the political rights” of all Venezuelans.
Gonzalez Urrutia’s lawyer Jose Vicente Haro additionally confirmed to AFP that the opposition candidate had left for Spain, declining to remark additional.
Venezuela has been in political disaster since authorities declared Maduro the victor of the July 28 election.
The opposition cried foul, claiming it had proof Gonzalez Urrutia had gained by a snug margin.
Quite a few nations, together with america, European Union and a number of other Latin American international locations, have refused to acknowledge Maduro because the winner with out Caracas releasing detailed voting information.
After the election, Venezuelan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez Urrutia over his insistence that he was the rightful winner of the election.
– Disputed election outcomes –
Lawyer Joel Garcia, who has defended opposition figures in Venezuela, mentioned if Gonzalez Urrutia was charged with every part the federal government has accused him of, he may face a jail sentence of 30 years.
Authorities mentioned Maduro had gained reelection to a 3rd, six-year time period with 52 % of the vote.
The opposition revealed its personal voting information, which it says confirmed Gonzalez Urrutia profitable 67 % of the vote.
Venezuela’s electoral authority has mentioned it can’t present a full breakdown of the election outcomes, blaming a cyber assault on its methods.
Observers have mentioned there isn’t a proof of any such hacking.
Submit-election violence in Venezuela has claimed 27 lives and left 192 folks injured, whereas the federal government says it has arrested some 2,400 folks.
Previous to the election, Gonzalez Urrutia was a little-known retired diplomat.
He turned the last-minute presidential candidate after primary opposition determine Machado was banned from operating by state establishments seen as loyal to Maduro.
After Venezuela’s final election, in 2018, Maduro was proclaimed winner amid widespread accusations of fraud.
He has led the oil-rich however cash-poor nation since 2013.
His tenure, which has suffered from home financial mismanagement in addition to worldwide sanctions, has seen GDP drop 80 % and greater than seven million of the nation’s 30 million residents to migrate.
AFP