In his first television interview since leaving Venezuela, Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia explained the role of the Spanish government in his departure from the Latin American country. The former diplomat also reiterated that he believes he is \u201cmore useful outside than inside,\u201d free and not detained, to solve Venezuela\u2019s political crisis. <\/p>\n
Venezuela has been in a state of crisis since the country\u2019s July presidential vote, in which authoritarian incumbent Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner by the country\u2019s electoral authority \u2013 a body stacked with his allies \u2013 with 51% of the vote. <\/p>\n
But tens of thousands of tallies published by the opposition suggested a win for Gonzalez. Venezuela\u2019s opposition and multiple Latin American leaders refused to recognize Maduro\u2019s victory, which sparked deadly protests during which thousands were arrested. <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez described the days before he fled his home country. He first took refuge in the Dutch embassy because he had three summonses from the Venezuelan Public Ministry and an arrest warrant. \u201cWhat awaited me was the raid of my house,\u201d he stated. He claims he was in the Dutch embassy for 32 days \u201cwithout anyone noticing I was there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Later, with his wife and team, he decided \u201cthe best option was to seek asylum in a friendly country like the Kingdom of Spain.\u201d After two days at the Spanish ambassador\u2019s residence in Caracas, Gonz\u00e1lez managed to leave Venezuela after signing a document at the Spanish embassy \u201cthat was initially going to be confidential\u201d but \u201cthose who signed on behalf of the government took it upon themselves to disclose.\u201d <\/p>\n
The document in question accepts the ruling of the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (TSJ), which ratified President Maduro\u2019s victory in the July 28 elections. The Venezuelan government has yet to provide detailed results by voting center or \u201ctable\u201d to support that announcement. <\/p>\n
In September, Gonz\u00e1lez said on social media that he signed the document after several hours \u201cof coercion, blackmail, and pressure\u201d in the presence of Venezuela\u2019s Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez and her brother Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, president of the National Assembly. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had to negotiate with the regime\u2019s envoys\u201d to leave the country, he said. \u201cThe legal weakling there was me: either I signed that [document] or I didn\u2019t leave.\u201d <\/p>\n
The version of events shared by Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly president, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, differs from Gonz\u00e1lez. On September 18, Maduro\u2019s representative assured in a press conference that they had not coerced the former diplomat and that he was the one who decided to contact the government. <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez said that he never specifically requested the presence of Delcy and Jorge Rodr\u00edguez at the meeting. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were only four people, so someone took them without the proper authorization of the host, the ambassador himself,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The former diplomat said his last hours in Venezuela \u201cwere very tense\u201d because he faced the prospect of leaving the country freely with his wife or staying at the embassy \u201cwithout the possibility of leaving.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said that at the airport, he was just waiting to board the plane \u201cto end this nightmare.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez said leaving the country was a personal decision \u201cthat was appropriate to keep confidential,\u201d so he only informed Mar\u00eda Corina Machado \u2014 who was disqualified from running in the elections and backed Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s campaign \u2014 two days before his departure. <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez said he explained his reasons to her, and the opposition leader agreed. <\/p>\n
The candidate said he has maintained \u201cpermanent\u201d contact with Machado and that they have a very fluid relationship. <\/p>\n
This Wednesday, Machado denied having fled Venezuela, as Maduro previously claimed. <\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuelans know I am here in Venezuela, people know it, and Nicol\u00e1s Maduro knows it too, but they are desperate to know where I am, and I will not give them that satisfaction,\u201d she told Florida\u2019s EVTV network. <\/p>\n
Would exile be the future of Machado? \u201cI hope not,\u201d said Gonz\u00e1lez, stating that he has not discussed that scenario with her. <\/p>\n
Narbona said she knows \u201cthe vice president stopped for a few hours at Barajas Airport\u201d in Madrid, but she \u201chas no more information than what has emerged over time.\u201d <\/p>\n
For Narbona, the political asylum granted by Spain to Gonz\u00e1lez benefits him because \u201che lived under threat and wanted to leave Venezuela.\u201d Spanish opposition parties, like the conservative Popular Party [PP] and the far-right Vox, have accused the Spanish government of only helping Maduro\u2019s regime with Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s asylum. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have found myself in the middle of the diatribe between the two main political forces in Spain,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez said, adding that the Spanish government has provided him with all the facilities in his exile. <\/p>\n
On September 18, the Spanish Senate approved by majority a motion presented by the Popular Party urging the Spanish government to recognize Gonz\u00e1lez as the elected president of Venezuela. <\/p>\n
The former diplomat said he does not know whether Spain\u2019s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez is mediating with Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s regime. He reiterated that he considers dialogue always a tool to resolve a political crisis and says he supports the \u201cimportant effort\u201d of the Colombian and Brazilian governments to find a solution. <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez said that he and the exiled opposition are working to respect the will \u201cof the nearly 8 million who voted for a peaceful change.\u201d The goal, he says, is to be in Venezuela on January 10 for the inauguration. <\/p>\n
The National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE), controlled by Chavismo, says Maduro won with 51.95% of the votes to Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s 43.18%, although it has not yet published detailed results. This result is questioned by much of the international community for its lack of transparency. <\/p>\n
Regarding the official figures, Gonz\u00e1lez says that \u201cthere is no evidence to prove they [Maduro\u2019s regime] won.\u201d <\/p>\n
The opposition candidate said that an inauguration in exile has not been considered. At the same time, the possibility of not being in Venezuela on January 10 \u201cis a scenario we have not considered,\u201d but he is approaching it with \u201ccoolness and a fresh mind.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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In his first television interview since leaving Venezuela, Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia explained the role of the Spanish government in his departure from the Latin American country. The former diplomat also reiterated that he believes he is \u201cmore useful outside than inside,\u201d free and not detained, to solve Venezuela\u2019s political crisis. Venezuela has been in a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}