By Ana Cantero and Vivian Sequera
MADRID/CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez flew to Spain on Sunday to seek asylum, Madrid said, hours after leaving his country amid a political and diplomatic crisis over disputed July elections.
Gonzalez, who has defied President Nicolas Maduro’s declaration of victory, arrived at the Torrejon de Ardoz military base with his wife, Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The departure of the 75-year-old – seen by the US, EU and other regional powers as the winner of the election – came a week after Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for him, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes.
“Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. “In a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country.”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Instagram that authorities had given Gonzalez a safe passage in an attempt to restore “political peace.” Spain’s foreign ministry said there had been no official talks with the Venezuelan government about Gonzalez’s departure.
Venezuela’s opposition says the July 28 election resulted in a resounding victory for Gonzalez and has posted vote tallies online that they say show he won.
Maduro has rejected all such claims and says there was a right-wing plot to sabotage his government.
Gonzalez’s move to Spain marked another dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the former diplomat who came out of retirement and took up the nomination in March, initially as a substitute after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and then another replacement failed to stand.
Machado confirmed in X that González was now in Spain and added that he had fled to protect his “freedom, his integrity and his life.”
“The increasing threats, summons, arrest warrants and even attempts at blackmail and coercion to which he has been subjected demonstrate that the regime has no scruples and no limits in its obsession with silencing him and trying to break him,” he wrote.
Gonzalez will continue to fight for the opposition from Spain, while continuing to do so inside Venezuela, Machado said, vowing to be sworn in on January 10, 2025, when the next presidential term begins.
EMBASSIES, CONVERSATIONS
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Spanish television that he had told Gonzalez that “anyone whose physical integrity or fundamental rights could be endangered will be welcomed in Spain and its embassy.”
He added that his transfer to Spain had been planned for days and the Foreign Ministry said the asylum process for Gonzalez would now begin.
Gonzalez had sought refuge in the Dutch and Spanish embassies in Venezuela after the election, Dutch and Venezuelan officials said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said in a letter to parliament on Sunday that Gonzalez had urgently requested refuge in the Dutch embassy the day after the election.
“At the beginning of September, Edmundo Gonzalez indicated that… he wanted to leave and continue his fight from Spain,” Veldkamp added.
Spanish officials, including former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has had diplomatic ties with the South American country in the past, have been involved in a week of negotiations with Venezuelan authorities to get Gonzalez to leave the country, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
OPPOSITION PUSHES FOR MORE PROTESTS
The fact that Maduro allowed Gonzalez to leave despite the arrest warrant he faced may soften some of the recent harsh international criticism of him.
Machado, however, remains the subject of an investigation and has been held in an undisclosed location since the vote, emerging only occasionally to lead rallies. Gonzalez’s departure came less than 24 hours after security forces surrounded Argentina’s former embassy in Caracas, which is now protected by Brazil, where six opposition staffers have taken refuge since arrest warrants were issued against them in March.
Attorney General Tarek Saab, who met with Gonzalez’s lawyer this week and has been one of the opposition’s most strident accusers, is scheduled to hold a news conference later Sunday.
The opposition is pushing for more street protests and international pressure to have its victory recognized, but so far those tactics have been fruitless: Military leaders have lined up behind Maduro and there has been no escalation of sanctions or international action since the vote amid declining attendance at anti-government demonstrations.