Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has vowed to “continue fighting for democracy in his country” after being granted asylum in Spain.
Gonzalez left Venezuela on Saturday and arrived in Torrejon de Al in Madrid with his wife at around 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) after hiding out in the Spanish embassy in Caracas for several weeks. Doss Military Air Base.
The 75-year-old’s departure from the country follows chaos over a July 28 election in which President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner but which Mr González and many in the international community disputed.
In an audio message released by his press team, he said he was “confident that we will soon continue our fight for freedom and the restoration of democracy in Venezuela.”
Before his departure, Venezuela had issued an arrest warrant and the government charged him with conspiracy, forgery and other “serious crimes.”
González thanked his supporters for the expressions of solidarity and confirmed his arrival in Spain, saying: “I left Caracas surrounded by pressure, coercion and threats and I was not allowed to leave.”
Earlier, the country’s opposition leader Maria Collina Machado wrote on social media that he made the decision to leave the country because “his life was in danger,” citing the election After the “brutal wave of repression”.
Ms Machado is a popular candidate in the country and had been expected to run as a candidate against Mr Maduro, but was blocked at the last minute by institutions loyal to the president.
The opposition claims they have evidence that Gonzalez won by a slim margin and has uploaded detailed vote counts online that show Gonzalez convincingly defeated Maduro.
The United States, the European Union and most foreign governments have refused to accept Mr Maduro as the winner without Caracas releasing detailed voting data to prove the result.
“Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said on Sunday, adding that “in a democracy, no political leader should be forced to go to another country seeking asylum”.
He said Venezuela needed to end its crackdown on opposition leaders and release all political prisoners.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaking at a Socialist Party conference on Saturday, called Gonzalez “a hero that Spain will not give up.”
The country’s foreign minister, José Manuel Alvarez, said Madrid would grant Mr Gonzalez asylum because it was “committed to the political rights of all Venezuelans”.
Gonzalez’s departure came as Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital, Caracas, where six opposition figures had been holed up.
The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that terrorist activities were being planned internally.
