Venezuelan Presidential Candidate Left The Country To Seek Asylum Amid Post-Election Crackdown
HuffPost
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said that Edmundo González had sought refuge in past days at Spain's embassy in Caracas.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has left the South American country after seeking asylum in Spain, according to a senior Venezuelan official.
The surprise departure by the candidate who Venezuela’s opposition and several foreign governments consider the legitimate winner of July’s presidential race is a serious blow to efforts to unseat President Nicolás Maduro and comes just days after the government ordered his arrest.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in a message posted on Instagram that González, who has not been seen since the election, had sought refuge in past days at Spain’s embassy in Caracas. She said the government decided to grant González safe passage out of the country to help restore “the country’s political peace and tranquility.”
Neither González nor anyone from Venezuela’s opposition has yet to comment.
González, a 75 year old former diplomat, was a last minute stand in when opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was banned from running. Previously unknown to most Venezuelans, his campaign nonetheless rapidly ignited the hopes of millions of Venezuelans desperate for change after a decade long economic freefall.
Maduro took the oath of office a day after the political opposition’s most prominent leader reported she had been briefly detained by state security forces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that ceasing military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”
The lack of transparency around Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's whereabouts highlights the Israeli military's larger campaign of destroying Gaza's health care system.
Gaza's health ministry said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
Self-exiled Edmundo González said Rafael Tudares was kidnapped while taking González’s two grandchildren to school in Caracas.
The president-elect’s eldest son landed in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk on Tuesday.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s divisive legacy endures, marking decades of French political history and shaping the trajectory of the far-right.
The latest release brings the total number of men detained at Guantanamo to 15. That's the fewest since 2002.
In Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes.
After a barrage of attacks from the key adviser to Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned "lies and misinformation."
Investigators failed to take Yoon Suk Yeol into custody following a standoff with the presidential security service last week.
Israel has helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The X owner's comments came just hours after Farage described him as "a hero."
“You have to stay cool,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German magazine Stern.
"I would very much like President Trump’s unpredictability to be directed primarily toward the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
South Korean investigators left the president’s official residence after a nearly six-hour standoff during which he defied their attempt to detain him.
The government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro," the prime minister said.
Families of the victims were taken to the crash site for the first time on New Year's Day to pay their respects.