Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has left the country for Spain, Venezuelan and Spanish authorities said Sunday.
“Edmundo Gonzalez has flown from Caracas to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said on X.
His departure comes at a time of unrest in the South American country.
What happened in the Venezuelan presidential election?
Electoral authority and Venezuela’s self-proclaimed president Nicolas Maduro, 61, was the winner of the July 28 election. He has been in power since 2013 and this is his third term.
However, the results of the election have come across the country and the world. Despite calls for full results to be published, the government did not provide any voter turnout to back up the win.
Gonzalez, 75, says he won by a large margin. It has published online the number of votes supporting the claims. This week, state prosecutors filed falsification of public documents, conspiracy and other charges for Gonzalez.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said in a social media post that Gonzalez “voluntarily sought asylum at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas several days ago.”
She said Caracas granted Gonzalez safe passage to Spain “in the interest of the country’s political peace and tranquility.”
Following this, the authorities are against Maduro. NGO Prove said 25 people have been killed and more than 2,400 detained.
Diplomatic tension
The handling of Venezuela’s elections and subsequent unrest have also led to a diplomatic rift in the region. And Venezuela ended diplomacy after the vote.
On Friday, Argentina asked the International Criminal Court to extradite Maduro and other senior government officials.
On Saturday, Venezuela revoked Brazil’s rights to represent Argentina’s interests in the country, including operating an embassy that harbors six opposition figures.
Caracas said the decision was made because the embassy was being used to plan assassination attempts against Maduro and Rodriguez.
“Actions like this reinforce the belief that in Maduro’s Venezuela, basic human rights are not respected,” Argentine officials said in a statement.
Along with Colombia and Mexico, Brazil has called on the Venezuelan government to release the full election results.
tg/nm (dpa, AFP, AP, Routers)
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