Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez arrived on Sunday, Spanish officials said, where he is then expected to seek asylum.
The United States and many people consider the 75-year-old Gonzalez the true winner of the July 28 presidential election, which Nicolas Maduro was declared by election officials to have won.
A worsening political crisis has forced Gonzalez into hiding for the past month, and charges of attempted sedition and sedition were issued for the politician this week.
What do we know about Gonzalez’s arrival in Spain?
Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Gonzalez arrived Sunday with his wife at the Torrejon de Ardoz military base near Madrid.
Venezuelan Vice President Delsey Rodriguez said on Instagram that authorities had granted Gonzalez safe passage to Spain to restore “political peace”.
“He left Venezuela several days ago after voluntarily seeking asylum at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas,” she wrote.
Madrid said there had been no talks between the Spanish and Venezuelan governments on Gonzalez’s exit.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alberes said Gonzalez would be granted asylum “naturally”.
Hours after his arrival, Gonzalez sent a short voice message to supporters.
“My departure from Caracas was surrounded by acts of coercion, coercion and threats,” he said.
“I am confident that we will continue our fight to achieve our independence and restore Venezuela’s democracy.”
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, X, earlier wrote on Twitter that Gonzalez had fled to protect his “freedom, his integrity and his life”.
“The increasing number of threats, summonses, arrest warrants and even attempts at blackmail and coercion to which he has been subjected show that the regime knows no bounds or limits in its obsession with trying to silence and break him,” she wrote.
Gonzalez will continue to fight for Spain’s opposition, Machado added.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Gonzalez’s departure was “a sad day for democracy in Venezuela.”
“In a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country,” he said in a statement.
What was the result of the Venezuelan presidential election?
Venezuela’s CNE electoral authority, which is packed with presidential loyalists, declared Maduro, 61, the winner of the election.
The CNE said Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, won 51% of the vote.
But the opposition said Gonzalez won a landslide victory with 67% of the vote against 30% for Maduro.
Maduro’s opponents published vote tallies online that they said showed Gonzalez won and denounced what they said was widespread voter fraud.
Much of the international community has also refused to accept the results without seeing a detailed breakdown of votes from election authorities, which is not forthcoming.
Since the election, police have cracked down on anti-Maduro protesters.
The non-governmental rights organization Prove said 25 people had died and more than 2,400 had been arrested.
mm/rm (AFP, dpa, routers)
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