Gonzalez, leader of the Venezuelan opposition, flees to Spain and the government gives him asylum
- Edmundo González Urrutia arrived in Madrid this Sunday, on a military plane of the Spanish Army, from Tripoli. The Venezuelan Government has stated that what has happened is the result of a "mutual agreement" between the two governments of Venezuela. The Spanish Government has stressed that González has made the request for asylum and that there has been no "political negotiation" with Venezuela.
González Urrutia landed this Sunday afternoon at the military airport of Torrejón de Ardoz, near Madrid. Gonzalez, who was a candidate for opposition to the elections on 28 July, has remained hidden since 30 July. Yesterday it was known that Gonzalez spent several weeks in the Dutch embassy, and on 5 September he took refuge at the Spanish ambassador’s headquarters.
Battle of the story
The Spanish Government has announced that González is going to apply for asylum in the Spanish State and that the Executive is going to accept the request for asylum. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albars stressed that there has been "no political negotiation" between the two governments and that there will be "no compensation". In response to these statements, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez assured via Telegram that González's departure was the result of "broad dialogues" and "an agreement between the two governments". As it has been published, González has left the country with permission from the Venezuelan Government and the military plane that has taken him to Spain landed in Venezuela with permission from Caracas.
Several governments on the American right have denounced González's "forced exile", such as the Organization of American States (OAS) or the head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell. The main party of the Spanish opposition has criticized Pedro Sánchez’s government saying that giving asylum to González is not “favoring democracy”, but “removing a problem” to Maduro.
Weakening the opposition?
Venezuela ' s presidential elections were held on 28 July, during which Venezuela remained hesitant. The official results gave victory to Nicolás Maduro, but as usual since Chavism ruled, the opposition denounced the fraud and named González President. Subsequently, the Venezuelan Supreme Court found the official results correct, but the opposition has not accepted the resolution that has been adopted.
Gonzalez has remained hidden from 30 July until yesterday. Gonzalez did not appear and the arrest warrant was issued on 2 September. In the days after the elections, the opposition carried out massive mobilizations and numerous attacks on public buildings, but over time it has been losing strength. It now appears that the Venezuelan opposition has remained in an even weaker situation internally, which still has broad international support, following the flight from the country of a candidate invested by the opposition itself.
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