Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuela’s former opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) said he was coerced into signing a letter effectively recognising his defeat in July’s presidential election, which electoral authorities claim was won by President Nicolas Maduro.

The revelation of the letter is the latest strain to the country’s political crisis, which was exacerbated by the disputed election results and Mr. Gonzalez’s recent departure for exile in Spain. Mr. Gonzalez and the Unitary Platform coalition he represented on July 28 claim they defeated Maduro by a wide margin.

The document states it was meant to be confidential, but Jorge Rodriguez, head of the National Assembly and Mr. Maduro’s chief negotiator, presented it during a nationally televised press conference hours after a local news outlet published parts of it. The letter shows Mr. Gonzalez as the sender and is addressed to Mr. Rodriguez, who signed it as recipient.

Mr. Rodriguez told reporters Mr. Gonzalez signed the letter of his own volition. Mr. Gonzalez, however, in a video posted on social media said he signed it under duress.

“They showed up with a document that I would have to sign to allow my departure from the country,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “In other words, either I signed or I would face consequences. There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure.”

Mr. Rodriguez, questioned about Mr. Gonzalez’s video message, threatened to reveal audio of his conversations with Mr. Gonzalez if he did not take back his assertions.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Mr. Maduro loyalists, declared Mr. Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.

But the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines and posted them online. Mr. Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the voting records showed the former diplomat won the election with twice as many votes as Mr. Maduro.

Mr. Gonzalez then became the subject of an arrest warrant over an investigation into the publishing of the tally sheets.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Mr. Maduro to ask Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling party, to audit the results. The high court reaffirmed his victory.

Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Machado, other opposition leaders and foreign governments questioned the audit’s results. However, in the letter made public Wednesday, Mr. Gonzalez admitted that while he does not agree with the tribunal’s ruling, “I abide by it because it is a resolution of the highest court of the Republic.”

In contrast, in his video message, he called himself the “elected president of millions and millions of Venezuelans” and promised to “fulfil” their mandate.

Venezuela’s next presidential term begins January 10 and lasts six years.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said that Mr. González, who has not been seen since the election, had sought refuge in past days at Spain’s embassy in Caracas.
| Photo Credit: 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.

Also Read: Venezuela sends hundreds to maximum security jails after election: NGO

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in a message posted on Instagram that Mr. 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 Mr. González safe passage out of the country to help restore “the country’s political peace and tranquility.”

Neither Mr. González nor anyone from Venezuela’s Opposition has yet to comment.

Edmundo 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.

While Mr. Maduro was declared the winner of the July vote, most western Governments have yet to recognize his victory and are instead demanding that authorities publish a breakdown of votes. Meanwhile, tally sheets collected by opposition volunteers from over two-thirds of the electronic voting machines indicate that Mr. González won by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The tally sheets have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. In previous Presidential Elections, the National Electoral Council published online the results of each of the more than 30,000 voting machines, but the Mr. Maduro-controlled panel did not release any data this time, blaming an alleged cyberattack mounted by its opponents from North Macedonia.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a staunch Mr. Maduro ally, sought Mr. González’s arrest after he failed to appear three times in connection to a criminal investigation into what it considers an act of electoral sabotage.

Also Read: Venezuela’s Machado calls on the international community to step up the pressure on Maduro

Mr. Saab told reporters that the voting records the opposition shared online were forged and an attempt to undermine the National Electoral Council.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which, at the invitation of Maduro’s government, observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. In a statement critical of the election, the U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory, but they said the voting records it published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

A Venezuelan national holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “Free Venezuela”, and “Out Maduro”, during a demonstration in support of opposition Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, in front of the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado called Thursday, August 1, 2024 for protests “in every city” in the nation on Saturday to denounce the disputed reelection of President Nicolas Maduro.

The oil-rich Latin American nation was plunged into political crisis after Mr. Maduro was announced the victor of Sunday, July 28 ‘s election — a result that defied pre-election polls and has drawn global criticism.

“We must remain firm, organized and mobilized with the pride of having achieved a historic victory on July 28, and the awareness that to claim victory we will also go all the way,” Machado said on social media.

Earlier Thursday, she wrote in the Wall Street Journal that she was in hiding and “fearing for my life” after Mr. Maduro’s contested victory, which led to hundreds of arrests following deadly protests this week.

Machado reiterated her claim that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was the rightful winner, saying he won “67 percent to 30 percent” based on tallies obtained from most of the nation’s polling stations.

The government-aligned National Electoral Council declared that Mr. Maduro won with 51 percent of the vote. Mr. Maduro has said he has evidence of his victory and was “ready to present 100 percent of the records.”

“You have blood on your hands,” Mr. Maduro said July 31, referring to Gonzalez Urrutia and Machado. “They should be behind bars.”

Machado — who was barred from running in the election by institutions loyal to Mr. Maduro — said most opposition figures were now in hiding.

“I could be captured as I write these words,” Machado wrote, calling for “those who reject authoritarianism and support democracy to join the Venezuelan people in our noble cause.”

In a message to his supporters, Gonzalez Urrutia wrote on X: “I will never leave you alone, and I will always defend your will!”

At least 20 people have died in protests that erupted after the election, according to Machado, while more than 1,000 have been jailed.

Venezuela’s supreme court has summoned all presidential candidates to a hearing on Friday afternoon following Mr. Maduro’s request that it initiate a process to investigate and certify the election result.

Diplomatic row

After days of anxiety that left streets largely deserted, normal life has begun to resume in the capital Caracas, with shops opening and public transport operating.

But regional spats were widening, with Venezuela withdrawing diplomats from eight critical Latin American countries and asking envoys from those nations to leave its territory.

Argentine President Javier Milei said his country’s diplomatic staff left Venezuela on Thursday and thanked Brazil for taking custody of its embassy.

Six Venezuelan opposition figures are currently under protection at the Argentine embassy.

Brazil’s foreign ministry announced it was also taking over representation of Peru in Venezuela.

Peru recognized Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela’s legitimate president on Tuesday, prompting Caracas to sever diplomatic ties.

The United States and the European Union have demanded Venezuelan authorities release detailed voting data, with top US diplomat Antony Blinken saying there was “overwhelming evidence” that Gonzalez Urrutia won the election.

In a joint statement, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico urged an “impartial verification” of the result, also calling for Caracas to publish voting data broken down by polling stations.

‘Bloodbath’

The July 28 elections were held in the shadow of Mr. Maduro’s warnings of a “bloodbath” if he were to lose, and amid widespread fear the vote would be rigged.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said more than 1,000 people were arrested in protests that erupted on Monday and Tuesday in the wake of the election.

He also said one military officer was killed and 77 officials were injured.

Mr. Maduro has led the oil-rich country since 2013, presiding over a GDP drop of 80 percent that pushed more than seven million of once-wealthy Venezuela’s 30 million citizens to emigrate.

He is accused of locking up critics and harassing opponents in a climate of rising authoritarianism.

Mr. Maduro’s previous reelection, in 2018, was rejected by dozens of Latin American and other countries, including the United States and EU members.

Years of damaging US sanctions failed to dislodge the president, who enjoys loyalty from the military leadership, electoral bodies, courts and other state institutions, as well as the backing of Russia, China and Cuba.

President Nicolás Maduro on July 31 asked Venezuela’s high court to conduct an audit of the Presidential election after opposition leaders disputed his claim of victory, drawing criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.

Mr. Maduro told reporters that the ruling party is also ready to show all the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election.

Anti-Maduro protests spread as Venezuelan opposition says he stole vote

“I throw myself before justice,” he said outside the Supreme Tribunal of Justice headquarters in the capital, Caracas, adding that he is “willing to be summoned, questioned, investigated.”

This is Mr. Maduro’s first concession to demands for more transparency about the election. However, the court is closely aligned with his government; the court’s justices are proposed by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Mr. Maduro’s sympathisers.

Also Read: Election campaign closes in Venezuela even as Maduro warns of a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses

The Carter Center, which sent a delegation to Venezuela to monitor the election, criticized Mr. Maduro’s audit request, saying the court would not provide an independent review.

“You have another government institution, which is appointed by the government, to verify the government numbers for the election results, which are in question,” said Jennie K. Lincoln, who led the delegation. “This is not an independent assessment.”

The Atlanta-based group said on July 30 that it was unable to verify the announced results and criticised what it called a “complete lack of transparency” in declaring Mr. Maduro the winner. Venezuela’s electoral authorities allowed the Carter Center to send 17 observers.

Maduro’s main challenger, Edmundo González, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said they obtained more than two-thirds of the tally sheets that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed. They said the release of the data on those tallies would prove Mr. Maduro has lost.

Mr. Maduro insisted to reporters that there had been a plot against his government and that the electoral system was hacked. Asked later on during a news conference why electoral authorities have not released detailed vote counts, he said the National Electoral Council has come under attack, including cyber-attacks.

“Engineers are fighting right now” to solve those attacks, he said without elaborating.

The government presented some videos that the President said showed people attacking and torching some electoral offices.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said more than 1,000 people related to some of those attacks have been arrested.

Pressure has been building on the President since the election. The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has yet to release any results broken down by voting machine, which it did in past elections.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a close Maduro ally, joined other foreign leaders on July 31 in urging him to release detailed vote counts.

“The serious doubts that have arisen around the Venezuelan electoral process can lead its people to a deep violent polarization with serious consequences of permanent division,” Mr. Petro said on the social platform X.

“I invite the Venezuelan government to allow the elections to end in peace, allowing a transparent vote count, with the counting of votes, and with the supervision of all the political forces of its country and professional international supervision,” he added.

Mr. Petro proposed that Mr. Maduro’s government and the opposition reach an agreement “that allows for the maximum respect of the (political) force that has lost the elections.” The agreement, he said, could be submitted to the United Nations Security Council.

His comments came a day after another ally, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with U.S. President Joe Biden, called for the “immediate release of full, transparent, and detailed voting data at the polling station level.”

Brazil’s Presidential office refused to comment on whether an audit by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice would amount to an independent verification. Instead, it pointed to a Monday statement from the Ministry for Foreign Relations that said the government awaits “the publication by the National Electoral Council of data broken down by polling station, an indispensable step for the transparency, credibility, and legitimacy of the election result.”

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that “the more transparency there is, the greater his chance of having peace to govern Venezuela.”

The Organization of American States convened for an extraordinary session on July 31, but members were unable to reach a consensus on a resolution to pressure Venezuelan authorities to “immediately” publish the granular results and verify them in the presence of international observers. Seventeen nations voted in favor of the resolution, one short of the threshold required for passage. Eleven abstained, and five were absent.

According to Machado, the opposition leader, the vote tallies show González received roughly 6.2 million votes compared with 2.7 million for Mr. Maduro. That is widely different from the electoral council’s report that Mr. Maduro received 5.1 million votes, against more than 4.4 million for González.

The Venezuela-based human rights organization Foro Penal said 11 people, including two minors, were killed in election-related unrest.

Mr. Maduro’s closest ruling party allies quickly came to his defense. National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez — his chief negotiator in dialogues with the U.S. and the opposition — insisted Mr. Maduro was the indisputable winner and called his opponents violent fascists. He called for Machado and González to be arrested.

Ms. Machado and Mr. González urged their supporters to remain calm.

“I ask Venezuelans to continue in peace, demanding that the result be respected and the tally sheets be published,” Mr. González said on X. “This victory, which belongs to all of us, will unite us and reconcile us as a nation.”