Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia
| Photo Credit: AFP

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González landed in Guatemala Tuesday (January 14, 2025), four days after the inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to a third term.

Guatemala Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez told The Associated Press that Mr. González arrived in Guatemala and Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo planned to meet with him on Wednesday.

Mr. González, who is recognized by several countries as the winner of the presidential election, had promised to return to Venezuela to take office. But last Friday, when Mr. Maduro was sworn in, he called it off saying the necessary security conditions weren’t there to allow his return.

An airport official in the Dominican Republic, who requested anonymity to discuss Mr. González’s departure, said he left a small airport outside Santo Domingo on Tuesday aboard a private plane.

Mr. González had been in the Dominican Republic for six days.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, stacked with government loyalists, had declared Mr. Maduro the winner of the July 28 election. But unlike in previous contests, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts to back the announced result.

The opposition, however, collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines and posted them online — showing its candidate, Mr. González, had won by a more than a two-to-one margin. U.N. experts and the U.S.-based Carter Center, both invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.

Handout picture released by Venezuela’s Interior and Justice Ministry shows Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello speaking during a press conference in Caracas on January 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia called Sunday (January 6, 2025) for the military to recognize him as commander-in-chief, as he continued an international tour seeking to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power.

Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia has been recognized by the United States, Italy and several Latin American nations as Venezuela’s president-elect, despite Mr. Maduro being declared the official winner of the July 28 vote.

Having fled the country after being targeted with an arrest warrant, Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia has launched an international tour in the days leading up to January 10, when the next president is set to be sworn in.

After stops in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, he has headed next to Washington, where he will meet with President Joe Biden on Monday, a US source familiar with the planning told AFP.

The meeting was not on Mr. Biden’s public schedule released Sunday, and it was also not clear if a winter storm headed toward Washington could impact the plans.

The 75-year-old former diplomat, who fled in exile to Spain in September, has pledged to return to his country to be sworn in.

In a video posted Sunday on X, Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia addressed Venezuela’s army, telling them: “On January 10, by the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, I must assume the role of commander-in-chief.”

“Many of you have expressed your desire for change along with the rest of Venezuelans, expressing it by voting against leadership that does not represent a guarantee of stability or a future” for the country, he said.

Venezuelan electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner shortly after the July 28 vote but have yet to release detailed results.

The opposition meanwhile has released a large set of polling-site results that shows Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia winning by a wide margin.

Meanwhile on Sunday, popular opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado called for mass protests on January 9, the day before the inauguration.

“This day will be recorded in history as the day Venezuela said: enough!” she said in a video shared on X.

“Freedom cannot be begged for… it must be conquered, it must be won.”

Mr. Machado, who was barred from running in the election, has been in hiding since after the vote, but has appeared at several rallies in the capital Caracas.

“I’m going with you. This January 9th, EVERYONE in the streets, in Venezuela and around the world,” she wrote on X.

Mass protests broke out in the wake of Mr. Maduro being declared the winner, with a wave of crackdowns and clashes leaving at least 28 people dead and over 2,000 arrested.

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.