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Opposition Candidate Has Fled Venezuela, Vice President Says
Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on social media that Edmundo González had left for Spain, whose foreign minister said Mr. González was traveling on a Spanish Air Force plane.
The opposition candidate in Venezuela’s disputed July presidential election left the country on Saturday, the authorities said, as a standoff deepened at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas where six Venezuelan opposition leaders have been sheltering.
President Nicolás Maduro has faced widespread domestic and international condemnation for saying that he won the election, as well as for a violent crackdown on demonstrators protesting that claim. The United States has said that the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, won.
On Saturday, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on social media that Mr. González had left for Spain after voluntarily seeking refuge at the Spanish embassy in Caracas. Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said that he was traveling on a Spanish Air Force plane.
“Edmundo González, at his request, is flying to Spain in a Spanish Air Force plane,” he wrote on X. “The Government of Spain is committed to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans.”
Before his departure, security forces surrounded the Argentine Embassy in Caracas on Friday night.
Members of the Venezuelan opposition posted images on the social media platform X on Saturday morning that appeared to show armed men in uniform near the embassy, some wearing balaclavas. They also confirmed earlier reports that electricity had been cut off to the embassy.
In a message posted to X, the opposition leader, María Corina Machado, pleaded for help from the international community.
“Diplomatic asylum, in principle and as an institution with a profound Latin American spirit, has served to protect the politically persecuted,” Ms. Corina Machado wrote, adding “Today, it stands to be violated.”
This is a developing story.
Orlando Mayorquín is a breaking news reporter, based in New York, and a member of the 2023-24 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Orlando Mayorquín
Mike Ives is a reporter for The Times based in Seoul, covering breaking news around the world. More about Mike Ives
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