Iran Press/ America: Venezuela's former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left for Spain in the wake of the South American country's contested election, Venezuelan and Spanish officials said on Saturday night after a day of rising diplomatic tensions.
Gonzalez, 75, who ran against President Nicolas Maduro in July, left after "voluntarily seeking refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas several days ago," Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez posted on Instagram.
Gonzalez spent recent days in the embassy of Spain and was granted safe conduct by the Bolivarian government. The Government of Spain has arranged the diplomatic and material means necessary for his transfer, carried out at his request.
"Edmundo Gonzalez has taken off from Caracas heading to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane," Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares posted on X, saying Madrid was responding to a request from Gonzalez.
In the July 28, 2024, presidential election of Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro won last month’s presidential election.
US-backed opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia claimed to have won 67% of the vote and accused Maduro of rigging the results. The authorities in Caracas, however, said that Maduro won 52% of the vote and certified the election in his favor.
On Thursday, the court said it “indisputably certified election materials and validates the results of the July 28, 2024, presidential election issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE),” according to presiding judge Caryslia Rodriguez.
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