Spanish prime minister meets with exiled Venezuelan opposition leader González

MADRID — Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday, 4 days after fleeing to the European nation in a negotiated cope with Nicolás Maduro’s authorities.

González’s flight to exile — after weeks of in search of refuge within the embassies of the Netherlands and Spain in Caracas — had dealt a significant blow to hundreds of thousands who positioned their hopes in his opposition marketing campaign.

His supporters in Venezuela and past, together with america authorities, take into account him the respectable winner of the July 28 presidential election.

Sánchez, who was on a visit to China when González arrived, posted a video of their assembly Thursday on the social media platform X. The 2 are seen strolling collectively within the Moncloa Palace gardens in Madrid.

Spain has welcomed González as an indication of its “humanitarian dedication and solidarity with Venezuelans,” Sánchez mentioned in his publish.

On Wednesday, the Spanish Parliament accredited a proposal from the conservative In style Get together urging Sánchez’s left-wing coalition authorities to acknowledge the opposition chief because the elected president of Venezuela. The movement is non-binding.

Spain’s authorities helps the European Union place of demanding that Maduro make public the uncooked polling outcomes earlier than the bloc acknowledges a winner.

The European Parliament will debate the result of the Venezuelan elections on Tuesday in Strasbourg, France.

González’s arrival has additional strained relations between Madrid and Caracas. On Wednesday, Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s Nationwide Meeting, requested for “the rapid rupture of all diplomatic relations, of all industrial relations”.

“Let all of the representatives of the Spanish authorities delegation depart, and allow us to convey our personal,” Rodríguez mentioned within the Meeting and likewise known as for “the rapid closure of all industrial actions of Spanish firms.”

González, who was Venezuela’s former ambassador in Argentina in the course of the presidency of late Hugo Chávez, landed Sunday at a navy airport close to Madrid. He traveled aboard a Spanish navy airplane.

Following the election, González and the Venezuelan opposition’s de facto chief, María Corina Machado, went into hiding as safety forces rounded up greater than 2,000 folks — a lot of them younger Venezuelans — who spontaneously took to the streets to protest Maduro’s alleged theft of the election.

Together with his flight into exile, González joined the swelling ranks of opposition stalwarts who as soon as fought Maduro earlier than in search of asylum overseas within the face of a brutal crackdown. In Spain, he joins at the very least 4 former presidential hopefuls who had been imprisoned or confronted arrest for defying Maduro’s rule.