Opposition Leader Leaves Venezuela, Granted Political Asylum by Spain

Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, on June 19, 2024. Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo

The vice president of Venezuela said on Saturday that opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has left the country for political asylum in Spain.

Gonzalez went into hiding days after the contested results of Venezuela’s July election were announced by the government-controlled National Electoral Council (NEC) on July 28, which declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner with 52 percent support without releasing detailed voting data.

Meanwhile, the opposition published detailed voting tallies from a majority of voting precincts online, which it says is evidence that Gonzalez won by a convincing margin of over two-thirds. In response, Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a staunch Maduro ally, issued warrants for González’s arrest over charges of allegedly forging election documents and attempting to undermine the NEC.

Gonzalez had failed to appear three times in connection to the criminal electoral sabotage investigation.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Saturday that González had left Venezuela from the Spanish embassy where he was seeking asylum.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, [Gonzalez Urrutia] asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” she said on Instagram. She added that Gonzalez’s request to leave the county had been granted by the government.

Gonzalez’s lawyer Jose Vicente Haro also confirmed the opposition leader’s departure to AFP.

Jose Vicente Haro, lawyer of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, talks with journalists outside the house of his client in Caracas on Sept. 3, 2024. Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

Spain’s foreign minister said Gonzalez had requested asylum and that a Spanish air force plane was sent.

“Spain is committed to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a statement.

Gonzalez, 75, ran against Maduro in July as a widely unknown candidate who registered to run for president after the party’s president Maria Corina Machado was barred from running for public office in March by government authorities.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. In a statement critical of the election, the U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory, but they said the voting records it published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries—including from Latin America—have refused to recognize Maduro as the winner of the election without Caracas publishing a breakdown of the election results.

“Rather than recognizing his election loss and preparing for a peaceful transition in Venezuela, Maduro has now ordered the arrest of the democratic leader who defeated him overwhelmingly at the polls. Edmundo Gonzalez has promoted national reconciliation, and we join the growing list of international partners condemning this unjustified arrest warrant,” Ambassador Brian A. Nichols of the U.S. Department of State said on social media on Sept. 3.

Tally sheets have long been used for reporting election results in Venezuela. In previous presidential elections, the NEC published online the results of each of the more than 30,000 voting machines but the Maduro-controlled panel did not release any data this time, blaming an alleged cyberattack mounted by its opponents from North Macedonia.

Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez speaks during a meeting with Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil (out of frame) and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Venezuela at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Caracas on Aug. 8, 2024. Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

Since Venezuela’s last election, which was not recognized as free and fair by many international observers and countries, Rodriguez has been sanctioned by several countries and entities—including the United States, the European Union, and Canada—over her involvement in human rights abuses and corruption, undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.