One hundred thousand dollars, that is the price that current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro promises for the golden tip that leads to the arrest of his rival Edmundo González Urrutia. After incumbent President Maduro declared himself the winner of the elections last July, González fled to Spain. The opposition leader now appears to be moving towards Venezuela again. If he actually sets foot in the South American country, he could end up in a Venezuelan cell in no time.
González is expected to return to Venezuela one of these days. He has now already reached his first destination in South America: Argentina. There, after a conversation with Argentine President Javier Milei, he was warmly welcomed by a few hundred Venezuelan citizens with the shout: ‘Edmundo, Presidente’. For many Venezuelans, González was the actual winner of the elections. They look hopefully at his return.
After his visit to Argentina, González will travel to Uruguay and Panama, sources close to the fled opposition leader report to the Reuters news agency. González reported on Saturday that he will also meet US President Joe Biden in the United States. The US considers him the real winner of the Venezuelan presidential elections.
Election fraud or conspiracy?
Support for González is still strong. After Venezuela’s electoral council declared Maduro president on July 28, chaos broke out in the country. Furious citizens took to the streets. Although the Venezuelan government claimed that Maduro won the election with 52 percent of the vote, evidence of this victory was lacking. Protests against Maduro and alleged election fraud were suppressed: more than two thousand citizens were arrested, including a number of journalists.
Opposition leader González claimed fraud and said he won the election. His team published polling station notes showing that González had received 67 percent of the votes. Maduro accused his opponent of sedition, conspiracy and falsification of documents. González then fled to Spain, where he was given political asylum.
But González emphasized from the start that his departure from Venezuela was temporary. On January 10, next Friday, he claims he will reclaim his place as the actual president of Venezuela. Now the question is whether the opposition leader will enter the country before then.
Previous rivals disqualified
Former diplomat González had never aspired to a political career, his loved ones say, according to a profile in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The 75-year-old is known as a quiet, shy personality and has spent most of his career in the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
On March 26, 2024, he became the presidential candidate of the political organization MUD, a coalition consisting of liberals, social Christians, socialists and conservatives. María Corina Machado was actually supposed to hold this position, but she was excluded from participation just before last year’s elections, as was her chosen successor Corina Yoris. The popular candidate Machado was Maduro’s biggest rival at the time. Other opposition members were also arrested. At the last minute, Machado asked González to take her place. She supported González and appeared next to him on stages during the election campaign.
‘Army is ready’
Machado also fled and went into hiding after Maduro’s declared election victory. In a message to her X account she supports the return of her fellow opposition leader to the continent, and asks her supporters to “celebrate” González’s arrival in Argentina.
On January 1, Machado called on all Venezuelans through her social media channels to rise up, probably against Maduro’s inauguration. This is scheduled for January 10: the day on which Maduro has already announced that he will deploy the army en masse.
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