Spain says its “doors are open” to opposition figures from Venezuela after taking in Edmundo González, who fled the South American country after running as a candidate in its widely queried recent election.
Mr González arrived in Madrid on Sunday in a Spanish military aircraft. Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said the 75-year-old had requested asylum and the government “has no doubts” about processing it.
According to data provided by the Venezuelan opposition, Mr González defeated president Nicolás Maduro in the July 28th election by a clear margin. However, Mr Maduro has insisted that he won, a claim which has drawn widespread international condemnation.
Mr González subsequently disappeared from the public eye and in early September a warrant was issued for his arrest for a range of serious crimes, including allegation of forging public documents, conspiracy and sabotage.
It has transpired that the opposition politician spent some time in the embassy of the Netherlands and then the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas before leaving for Madrid.
In an audio message made available by his supporters, Mr González said his departure from Caracas “was surrounded by pressure, coercion and threats”.
María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who supported Mr González’s candidacy after she was barred from running, said on social media that he had left the country because “his life was in danger”.
She said “he will fight from abroad alongside our diaspora” and will formally be proclaimed president on January 10th, the date for the investiture of the winner of Venezuela’s election.
In an interview with El País newspaper, published just hours after Mr González’s arrival in Spain, Mr Albares said the country’s “doors are open to whoever is in need”.
“We have always said that we will protect the political rights and physical integrity of opposition leaders,” he said.
“We do this because Venezuelans are our brothers and because we are a country which does not wash its hands of its Ibero-American family or democratic values,” he added.
Spain has close cultural and economic links to Venezuela. Official figures show that 278,000 Venezuelans lived in Spain in early 2023, a figure which is believed to have surged since then due to the country’s continuing turmoil. Many of these migrants are children or grandchildren of Spaniards who emigrated to South America in the 20th century. Several of Spain’s biggest companies, particularly in finance and energy, have substantial investments in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan situation has become a sensitive issue in Spanish domestic politics, with the right-wing opposition frequently accusing Mr Sánchez’s left-wing coalition of indulging the Maduro regime.
[ Venezuelans vote with their feet as optimism evaporatesOpens in new window ]
The main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) has urged the Spanish government to take the same line as the United States, which has acknowledged Mr González as Venezuela’s president-elect. Instead, Spain is in step with the European Union, which does not recognise Mr Maduro as the victor in the election but nor does it acknowledge Mr González as president-elect.
“Getting [Edmundo González] out without acknowledging him as the legitimate president is not doing a favour to democracy, but rather removing a problem for the dictatorship,” wrote Esteban González Pons, an MEP for the PP. “Cuba would do the same if it was asked.”
Mr González Pons accused the Spanish government of reaching a “deal” with the Maduro administration, something Mr Albares has denied.
Other Venezuelan opposition leaders have taken refuge in Spain. The former mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, moved to the country in 2017, when the PP was in government, and Leopoldo López, founder of the Popular Will movement, moved to Madrid in 2020.
Mr Ledezma said that Mr González’s arrival in Spain should be seen “as another defeat that we inflict on Maduro”.
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