Spain has declared it will offer the Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez political asylum. Gonzalez arrived in Madrid after spending a month in hiding because of the violent crisis in Venezuela. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares was quoted in the media on Sunday as saying that Gonzalez had indeed applied for asylum and that Spain was ready to grant him political asylum.
Gonzalez left Venezuela on a Spanish military aircraft after Albares reiterated Spain’s respect for the political liberties of every Venezuelan. The Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolas Maduro, has agreed to the terms outlined in the agreement for Gonzalez’s protection.
They could finish taking my freedom away,” he said. He departed Venezuela without responding to three prosecutors’ summonses. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, citing Gonzalez in a tweet, said that he was in the Spanish embassy in Caracas when he requested political asylum.
The political climate in Venezuela can be described as volatile since Maduro’s re-election on July 28 this year; the re-election process was characterized by some level of fraud and a lot of secrecy when announcing the results. Criticisms have, however, been made by Gonzalez and other opposition leaders stating that Lukashenko won the election, albeit by a wide margin.
In related processes, Brazil has lost its authority to protect the interest of Argentina in Venezuela and, thus, more tensions in diplomacy. Post-election violence has claimed the lives of at least 27 people and has left hundreds injured, with more than 2,400 being detained by the Maduro government.
Gonzalez, a retired diplomat whose name was unknown to many Venezuelans before the campaign, came to power through the vacancy created after the barring of main opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from the presidential race. Maduro has been in power since 2013, and during this time, Venezuela has gone through a terrible economic meltdown, and many people have left the country.
