Facing charges, Venezuela opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia escapes to Spain

Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia talks to supporters as Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (L), his wife Mercedes Lopez (R) and his daughter Mariana Gonzalez (2nd R) listen during a rally in front of the United Nations headquarters in Caracas. (Yuri Cortez/AFP)

• Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia left the country.
• He asked for asylum in Spain.
• He disputed the result of the 28 July presidential election.

The Venezuelan government said on Saturday opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who disputed President Nicolas Maduro’s 28 July re-election, has left the country to seek asylum in Spain.

Gonzalez Urrutia had been in hiding for a month, ignoring three successive summons to appear before prosecutors, saying attending the hearing could have cost his freedom.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, (Gonzalez Urrutia) asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” Venezuela’s vice president said on social media, adding that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage.

Madrid’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on X that Gonzalez Urrutia “at his request” had departed on a Spanish military plane, adding that Spain was “committed to the political rights” of all Venezuelans.

Gonzalez Urrutia’s lawyer Jose Vicente Haro also confirmed to AFP that the opposition candidate had left for Spain, declining to comment further.

READ | International outcry grows over Venezuela presidential ‘winner’ arrest warrant

Venezuela has been in political crisis since authorities declared Maduro the victor of the 28 July election.

The opposition cried foul, claiming it had evidence Gonzalez Urrutia had won by a comfortable margin.

Numerous nations, including the US, European Union and several Latin American countries, have refused to recognise Maduro as the winner without Caracas releasing detailed voting data.

Venezuelan citizens protest the result announced for the Venezuelan presidential election outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasilia. (Evaristo Sa/AFP)

Demonstrators protest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s questioned victory in the Venezuelan presidential elections during a vigil in Cali, Colombia. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP)

AFP

After the election, Venezuelan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez Urrutia over his insistence that he was the rightful winner of the election.

Lawyer Joel Garcia, who has defended opposition figures in Venezuela, said if Gonzalez Urrutia was charged with everything the government has accused him of, he could face a jail sentence of 30 years.

Authorities said Maduro had won re-election to a third, six-year term with 52% of the vote.

The opposition published its own voting records, which it says showed Gonzalez Urrutia winning 67% of the vote.

Venezuela’s electoral authority has said it cannot provide a full breakdown of the election results, blaming a cyber attack on its systems.

Observers have said there is no evidence of any such hacking.

Members of the guard of honour of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stand on the roof at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. (Yuri Cortez/AFP)

AFP

Post-election violence in Venezuela has claimed 27 lives and left 192 people injured, while the government says it has arrested some 2 400 people.

Prior to the election, Gonzalez Urrutia was a little-known retired diplomat.

He became the last-minute presidential candidate after main opposition figure Machado was banned from running by state institutions seen as loyal to Maduro.

After Venezuela’s last election, in 2018, Maduro was proclaimed winner amid widespread accusations of fraud.

A Venezuelan woman holds a sign that reads in Spanish ‘Feel you proud, we are going to the end’ during a demonstration protesting alleged electoral fraud in Venezuela’s controversial presidential election at Urraca Park in Panama City. (Arnulfo Franco/AFP)

AFP

He has led the oil-rich but cash-poor country since 2013.

His tenure, which has suffered from domestic economic mismanagement as well as international sanctions, has seen GDP drop 80% and more than seven million of the country’s 30 million citizens emigrate.