Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo González has left Venezuela and is heading to Spain this Sunday after the country granted him political asylum, as reported by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Edmundo González took off from Caracas towards Spain on board a Spanish Air Force plane. The Spanish government has made available the diplomatic and material means necessary for his transfer, carried out at his request,” the government said, reiterating its “commitment to the political rights and physical integrity of Venezuelans, especially political leaders.”
This was also reported by the executive vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, who confirmed that González was leaving Venezuela with a safe conduct granted “for the sake of tranquility and political peace”, after spending “several days” taking refuge in the country. Country of the Spanish embassy that will grant him asylum.
“Today, September 7, the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia left the country, who, after having voluntarily taken refuge for several days in the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Caracas, asked the government to process political asylum,” wrote the official Instagram account.
Rodriguez explains that the governments of Venezuela and Spain have maintained the “relevant contacts” and that, “in accordance with international legality”, the opponent has obtained the corresponding safe conduct to be able to leave the diplomatic headquarters and travel to the European country. “This conduct reaffirms the respect for the law that has prevailed in the actions of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela within the international community,” said the vice president, who assured that more information on the matter would be provided in the coming hours.
Recently, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro assured that the anti-Chavista, “under cover” for several weeks, was “hiding” in a house in a wealthy neighborhood of Caracas and was preparing to leave the country for Miami. For now, the opposition coalition – Unitary Democratic Platform (PUD) – has not commented on the departure from the country of its standard-bearer, announced by Rodríguez.
After the elections of July 28, in which the electorate granted victory to Maduro, a political crisis broke out, as the opposition claims that González Urrutia won, a claim supported by copies of “83.5% of the electoral lists” which, the PUD claims, were collected by members and witnesses at the polling station, documents that the Executive claims are “false.”
