Venezuela’s opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, has stated he was coerced into signing a letter recognizing Nicolás Maduro because the winner of the nation’s disputed election as a situation for letting him flee to Spain.
The revelation of the letter is the newest pressure to the nation’s political disaster, which was exacerbated by the disputed election outcomes and González’s current departure for exile in Spain.
“I needed to both signal it or cope with the implications,” Gonzalez wrote on X, citing “very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and stress”.
He stated Maduro allies introduced him the doc when he was within the Spanish embassy in Caracas earlier than fleeing to Spain to request asylum, following the 28 July presidential election that the opposition insists he received.
“At that time I thought of I could possibly be of extra use free than if I have been imprisoned and prevented from fulfilling the duties entrusted to me” by voters, he stated.
The doc states it was meant to be confidential, however Jorge Rodríguez, head of the nationwide meeting and Maduro’s chief negotiator, introduced it throughout a nationally televised press convention hours after an area information outlet printed elements of it.
Rodríguez informed reporters González signed the letter of his personal volition. González, nonetheless, in a video posted on social media stated he signed it beneath coercion.
“They confirmed up with a doc that I must signal to permit my departure from the nation,” González stated.
Rodríguez, questioned about González’s video message, threatened to disclose audio of his conversations with González if he didn’t take again his assertions.
Venezuela’s nationwide electoral council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Not like earlier presidential elections, electoral authorities didn’t present detailed vote counts.
However the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s digital voting machines and posted them on-line. González and opposition chief María Corina Machado stated the voting data confirmed the previous diplomat received the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
González turned the topic of an arrest warrant over an investigation into the publishing of the tally sheets.
International condemnation over the dearth of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s supreme tribunal of justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling celebration, to audit the outcomes. The excessive court docket reaffirmed his victory.
Venezuela’s subsequent presidential time period begins on 10 January and lasts six years.
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