The pressure from Nicolás Maduro’s regime was ultimately too strong. On Sunday, September 8, at around four in the afternoon, Edmundo González Urrutia, a candidate for the July 28 elections, a vote in which he claims victory, landed at the military airfield of Torrejón de Ardoz, on the outskirts of Madrid, aboard “a plane of the Spanish Armed Forces.
Although he had promised not to leave Venezuela, the 75-year-old former diplomat decided to embark on the path of exile to Spain, where he obtained political asylum. “I am convinced that in the near future we will continue the fight for freedom and the restoration of democracy in Venezuela”he said in an audio message broadcast at night by his team to the press in Caracas, evoking “episodes of pressure, coercion and threats to keep me from leaving”.
Former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004-2010), an electoral observer appointed by the government of Nicolás Maduro – whose silence since the elections and proximity to the Chavista regime have been widely criticized in recent weeks by the right – has played a key role in mediating between the two governments, according to Spanish public television TVE.
On Sunday, the news of Mr. Gonzalez’s departure, along with his wife, initially caused surprise. “The Government made available the diplomatic means and materials necessary for his transfer, carried out at his request,” explained the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a brief press release published during the night from Saturday to Sunday. “Venezuela has granted the necessary safe-conducts for the sake of peace and political tranquility in the country”wrote Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez on social media.
“It was exile or prison”
In the Venezuelan opposition, dismay quickly gave way to pessimism. “The regime got what it wanted: to get Edmundo out of the country. It did so thanks to a real policy of terror and everything possible was done to frighten him and his family.Miguel Henrique Otero, president of the newspaper, emphasizes The Nationaland he himself has been a refugee in Madrid since 2015.
Nearly a hundred people died during the protests that followed the vote in which Nicolás Maduro was officially re-elected as head of state for a third six-year term, despite his failure to present the voting record. In addition, 1,659 people were imprisoned, according to the latest report by the NGO Foro Penal.
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