Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Monday he respects the decision of the leader of the largest opposition coalition, Edmundo González Urrutia, to leave the Caribbean country for Spain, following an asylum request and safe passage granted by his government.
“I can say to Ambassador González Urrutia, in Madrid, I say to him: my respect for your decision, all my respect for the decision you have made,” the president said in his weekly television program. “I understand the step he has taken. And I respect him. I hope that everything goes well for you on your path and in your new life.
On Saturday, the Venezuelan government announced that González Urrutia left the Caribbean nation, with a safe conduct granted “for the sake of tranquility and political peace”, after having spent “several days” sheltered at the Spanish embassy, following an asylum request.
Maduro said that after González Urrutia left Venezuela, the country “is calm.” “We played fairly and fairly, we won and when I say we won, it is because the peace of the country won. Today the country is calm, the country applauds what happened,” he stressed.
On Sunday, the former ambassador said his departure from Venezuela to Spain “was surrounded by episodes of pressure, coercion and threats.”
González Urrutia said Monday that the decision to leave the Caribbean nation was made because the destiny of Venezuelans “cannot, must not be that of a conflict of pain and suffering.” “I did it so that things can change and we can build a new stage for Venezuela,” the Venezuelan opponent said in a statement published in X.
In his statement, González Urrutia calls for a “policy of dialogue” and asks that “only democracy and the realization of the popular will can be the way forward” for “the future of the country,” something in which he will continue to be “committed.”
