During a nationally televised press conference, the Venezuelan president’s chief negotiator presented a supposedly confidential document that Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González was forced to sign before being allowed to leave the country and go into exile in Spain. González, aged 75, stated that he had to accept he had lost the presidential election to Nicolás Maduro under duress, facing consequences if he did not sign the letter. The letter, recognizing Maduro’s victory as ruled by Venezuela’s supreme court, was signed by González in the Spanish embassy in Caracas.
González revealed that he had won 73 percent of the accessible votes, twice as many as Maduro, based on opposition-obtained voting tallies. Despite this evidence, the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of the election. González then went into exile in Spain after signing the letter, leading to a warrant for his arrest in Venezuela for leaking the voting tallies.
The confidential document signed by González was presented during a press conference by Jorge Rodríguez, Maduro’s chief negotiator, which had earlier been published by a Venezuelan news outlet. In a video posted on social media, González denied signing the letter voluntarily and claimed he was coerced into it. Despite the Supreme Tribunal of Justice ruling in favor of Maduro, González still referred to himself as the elected president of millions of Venezuelans in a video message.
Maduro, supported by loyal security forces, is set to be inaugurated for his next presidential term on Jan. 10. A U.N. fact-finding mission reported intensified repression by Venezuela’s regime, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual violence carried out by security forces loyal to Maduro. The report highlighted serious violations of due process in the detentions of government opponents following the election.
González became the Unitary Platform coalition candidate after Maria Corina Machado was banned from standing by Venezuela’s supreme court due to alleged fraud and tax violations. Machado was accused of seeking economic sanctions against Venezuela imposed by the U.S.
This article contains information from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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