Venezuelan opposition leader flees country on Spanish military jet

Edmundo González Urrutia, who had been in hiding since the disputed vote in July, has been granted political asylum in Spain

The leader of Venezuela’s opposition fled to Spain on Sunday, where he has been granted political asylum.
Edmundo González Urrutia arrived in Madrid at around 4:30pm local time on a Spanish Air Force plane out of Caracas.
The 75-year-old has been in hiding since elections were held in Venezuela in July and a government crackdown on opposition figures soon after.
Rights groups say Venezuelan authorities have been committing widespread violations against government critics, including carrying out arbitrary arrests and violence against them.
On September 2, a judge issued an arrest warrant against Mr González for “conspiracy,” “incitement to disobedience” and other crimes after he disputed the election result.
Mr González fled to the Dutch embassy, where he sought refuge for more than a month before then staying at the home of Spain’s ambassador.
On Sunday, he and his wife flew into the Torrejón military air base near Madrid after his request for political asylum had been granted.
Before the July 28 election, Mr González was a political unknown, but he was the only person left to run against Mr Maduro after the government banned all other opposition candidates.
Venezuela’s socialist government announced that Mr Maduro had won a third six-year mandate with 52 per cent of the vote, but it has not yet published the official results.
Venezuela’s opposition has published its own tallies showing a landslide win for Gonzalez. They said copies of ballot machine data showed that of the votes cast, Mr González won 67 per cent.
The US, the European Union and major Latin American governments, including Left-wing administrations in Brazil and Mexico, have refused to recognise Mr Maduro’s claim to victory. Mass protests against the government have since broken out, leading to at least 27 deaths and 2,400 arrests.
The Venezuelan government has blamed the opposition, while opponents accuse the government of carrying out a campaign of repression.
On Saturday, Venezuelan security forces surrounded Argentina’s embassy in Caracas, where six opposition activists are currently in hiding. The Maduro government said it will revoke the diplomatic status of the embassy, currently held by Brazil, after Argentina pulled out its diplomatic representatives, allowing it to arrest the activists.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told reporters that Spain had responded positively to an asylum request from Mr González and denied that Madrid had negotiated the move with Venezuela’s government.
Spain, which has granted asylum to more than 100,000 Venezuelans fleeing repression, does not recognise Mr Maduro’s “alleged victory”, Mr Albares said.
Speaking on Saturday before the announcement of Mr González’s move into exile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the retired diplomat as “a hero whom Spain will not abandon”.
However, Right-wing politicians criticised the move as an affront to democracy.
“Bringing Edmundo González here without recognizing him as the legitimate president does no favours to democracy, but rather removes a problem for the dictatorship,” said Esteban González Pons, a leading spokesman for the conservative People’s Party (PP).
The PP has said it will force a vote in Spain’s parliament this week over recognising Mr González as Venezuela’s leader.
In 2019, some 60 countries including Spain recognised opposition politician Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela, a move that failed to dislodge Mr Maduro from power.