The news that Edmundo Gonzalez, the Venezuelan opposition candidate, fled the country on a Spanish Air Force plane this weekend shocked the country and the world.
Last year was marked by months of repression leading up to the disputed presidential election. The vote was followed by a brutal crackdown by the authoritarian government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Still, many Venezuelans hoped a negotiated exit would see the socialist-inspired administration step aside and allow Mr. Gonzalez, a soft-spoken former diplomat, to take over.
His departure on Saturday further narrowed that slim possibility. And it came as Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine diplomatic residence in Caracas where six top opposition leaders T.my refuge From March.
Mr. Maduro has strengthened his grip on power, some analysts say, even though many Venezuelans and governments around the world have not recognized his claim that he was re-elected to the presidency. Election on 28 July.
Efforts to broker a resolution to the conflict by countries in the region, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, have gone nowhere, and the opposition, which has called on the global community to rally behind it, apparently has few options.
Mr. Gonzalez was a 75-year-old grandfather of four Thrown into the race After the country’s Supreme Court barred him from the presidential ballot as a stand-in for popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in March.
Ms. Machado, who won an opposition-held primary last year, has inspired an almost religious fervor among her supporters, but for the government, she has a decades-long record as an unwavering opponent of the 25-year-old socialist system. her threat.
Many analysts see Mr. Gonzalez’s candidacy as promising if events take an unexpected turn, and polls show the opposition candidate is likely to win — if the vote is free and fair.
On election day, however, Mr. Maduro claimed victory without releasing a breakdown of the results; He has yet to do so. The opposition has Published thousands of receipts Voting machines showed Mr. Gonzalez won decisively.
Mr. Maduro has faced widespread Domestic and international criticism On claiming his victory.
His security forces have detained nearly 2,000 people, from opposition activists to ordinary citizens, over even the slightest sign of dissent. Two dozen Venezuelans died in protests in the days following the election. Last Monday, a Venezuelan court that focuses on terrorism-related crimes issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Gonzalez, charging him with election sabotage.
On Sunday, the opposition released an audio recording of the candidate explaining his decision to flee the country.
“I wanted to let you know that this morning, I arrived in Madrid,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “My departure from Caracas was surrounded by episodes of pressure, coercion and threats not to allow my departure. I am confident that soon we will continue the struggle for the recovery of freedom and democracy in Venezuela.
A day earlier, Venezuela’s vice president, Delsey Rodriguez, said the government had allowed him to leave the country “for the sake of peace and political stability.”
Ms. Machado’s plans, a candidate exiting the ballot, were unclear. She has gone into hiding since the election, though she has made a handful of public appearances.
In a statement Sunday, she said Mr. Gonzalez left because his life was in danger, but she would fight “to the end,” as her campaign slogan stated.
In an interview last month, Perkins Rocha, a top opposition leader, said, “My knowledge of Maria Corina Machado is that she will never leave the country.” He was later arrested by hooded men and taken to an undisclosed location.
Ms. Machado now finds herself in the position of the most prominent opposition figure in a country where all of her recent predecessors have been imprisoned or forced into exile, said Francisco Rodriguez, a Venezuelan professor of international affairs at the University of Denver.
The Maduro government’s strategy, he said, is to suppress the loudest voices of dissent, then portray them as weak and illegitimate.
“It makes it easier for Maduro to write a narrative about the protest,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “They want to paint them as not being ready to fight, not being brave, not being strong.”
The impasse over Argentina’s residency highlighted the diminishing chances that the opposition could force Maduro’s government to negotiate a solution to the political crisis.
Brazil took custody of the residence last month after Mr. Maduro ordered diplomats from Argentina and other countries who disputed his election victory claims to leave the country. Many had hoped for a negotiated transition in regional powers such as Brazil, with leftist leaders friendly to Mr. Maduro.
But on Saturday Venezuela’s foreign ministry announced it was revoking Brazil’s custody of the Argentine residence because, the ministry said, it was being used for “terrorist activities” and plots to assassinate Mr. Maduro.
Coupled with the news of Mr. Gonzalez’s exit, some Venezuelans were frustrated and scared to vote for the opposition. They asked not to use their last names for fear of reprisals.
Chiquinquira, 60, a secretary, said she almost fainted when she got the news of Mr. Gonzalez’s departure. “What’s going to happen to us?” she said. “I feel like a ship adrift.”
Lucia, 28, an administrator, said she felt sad, sad and depressed.
“I think he’s leaving all of us who decided to stay for the election in Venezuela and give it one last chance.” she said. “How do you ensure that this struggle continues if you have an elected president leave the country?”
Now that Mr. Gonzalez has left Venezuela, she has decided to leave as well.
“I don’t want to continue waiting for my youth to decide something,” she said.
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