Edmundo González: “I was not forced by the Spanish government or the ambassador”

Edmundo Gonzalez issued a statement on Thursday in which he assures that he was not pressured by the Spanish government to leave Venezuela: “I was not forced by the Spanish government or by the Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Ramón Santos. The diplomatic efforts made had the sole aim of facilitating my departure from the country, without putting pressure on myself“, says the text of the opposition candidate who won the elections against a Nicolas Maduro who does not want to recognize his defeat and imposed himself in power despite the evidence of fraud.

The Spanish opposition party, the PP, had accused the government of Pedro Sánchez a few hours earlier of maneuver in favor of chavismo to obtain the exile of Edmundo González and divide the opposition. González, in a very forceful letter, denies that this happened: “The Spanish government has undertaken to guarantee my safety during the journey on board the plane of the Spanish Armed Forces, as well as my arrival in Spain, as it happened. The main purpose of these measures was to allow the continuity of the processing of the asylum application before the Spanish State, in conditions of security and respect for my rights.

Edmundo Gonzalez leaves the countrySeptember 7, was shrouded in mystery. Harassed by the Chavista justice system, the opponent decided in a few days to go to Spain. But on Wednesday, it was learned that in order to leave the Spanish embassy in Caracas and board a plane, the Rodríguez brothers, Maduro's two main political operators, had forced him to sign a document in which he accepted Maduro's decision. the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela, which, in a resolution, decreed that the current president had won the elections, despite all the evidence showing that this was not the case. In this document, Edmundo also commits himself not to act as an elected president in exile. Chavismo published some images in which the Chavista leaders and Edmundo signed this letter at the residence of the Spanish ambassador. Photographs of Ramón Santos accompanying the opponent to the stairs of the plane were also released.

The revelation caused a shock in Venezuelabut also in Spain, where the issue has become a national policy of the first order. The deputy secretary for Institutional Affairs of the PP, Esteban González Pons, assured in an interview on Es Radio that the Spanish government was involved in what he calls a “coup d'état.” Pons said that the Sánchez administration had “forced and sent the elected president into exile.” “The Spanish government was a necessary cooperator.” The government responded that it had limited itself to facilitating the departure of Edmundo, who at the time was under a search and arrest warrant issued by the Venezuelan prosecutor's office, into the hands of Chavismo. Government sources indicate that Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares personally spoke with Edmundo González on four occasions – two while he was in Caracas and two others already on the plane en route to Madrid – to ensure that he had the free will to go to Spain, that was what he had decided. González's response was unequivocal, according to this information. This statement by Edmundo came to confirm that this was so.

Jorge Rodríguez, who has begun to ironically call González Urrutia “the one who is forced”, had challenged him to deny his complaints about the pressure received from the President of the Parliament and his sister, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. This afternoon, he gave a press conference in which he presented audio recordings of just a few seconds of the conversation recorded during the meeting they had on the eve of the opponent's departure into exile at the residence of the Spanish ambassador.

In the fragments with distortion effects in the voice – as he said – speaks the “interlocutor” of González Urrutia with the Chavista government, something that Rodríguez preferred not to reveal. “There is no attempt to establish a plastic, paper or paper president,” we hear, which, for Rodríguez, is proof that González renounced claiming his proclamation as president after denouncing the fraud after which the supposed election of Maduro was announced. victory in the elections.

“We have been in contact with an interlocutor of González Urrutia, at their request, because he had expressed his desire to leave the country,” said Maduro's political operator. “It is nothing more than a capitulation of a certain aspiration of the people defeated on July 28. “It is a surrender.”

Rodriguez insisted on presenting the details of the scene. The bottle of Chivas Regal that they offered to those present, the homeopathic tea brought by the vice president and that she preferred to drink, and the chocolates offered by the ambassador. In fact, he stressed that Santos' participation was that of host with drinks and entertainment for the meeting held by the Rodriguez, Gonzalez Urrutia and the interlocutor, although he had previously stated that if Gonzalez had been forced, the ambassador would be a witness. “Edmundo Gonzalez bit the hand that the Spanish government extended to him.”

The head of the Parliament assured that during the interview they discussed the plans of the “fascist sectors” to attack Maduro, the vice president and the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello. “We have not found evidence of your involvement (González Urrutia) in these events, but we have a lot of evidence of Mrs. María Corina Machado and her intimate entourage that encourages, plans and finances these events and he, so frank, told me that yes, I knew it. He did not present the audio of this part of the conversation. Nor did he answer whether those present knew that they were being recorded.

Rodríguez added that there is a second document in which González Urrutia asks that his assets be respected, which he also threatens to disclose. “The man said he was leaving the country to continue fighting for the freedom of the prisoners. But this remains in the discourse, because it contains a second document that asks that his assets and home and those of his family and friends be respected. In no line of this document do the demands of the people deprived of liberty appear. “Don't force me to publish it.”