The Venezuelan government said Saturday that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia was in hiding after challenging President Nicolas Maduro. contested re-election — left the country and requested asylum in Spain.
“After voluntarily taking refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, (Gonzalez) requested political asylum from the Spanish government,” the Venezuelan vice president said on social media, adding that Caracas had accepted his safe passage and that he had left.
The opposition could not immediately be reached for comment.
Venezuela has been in a political crisis since authorities declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election. The opposition has cried foul, saying it has proof that González won the presidential election by a comfortable margin.
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Many nations, including the United StatesThe European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro as the winner without Caracas releasing detailed voting data.
After the election, Venezuelan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for González because of his insistence that he was the legitimate winner of the election.
Before leaving the country, he went into hiding for a month, ignoring three successive summons to appear before the prosecutor.
Post-election violence In Venezuela, violence has left 27 dead and 192 injured, while the government says it has arrested some 2,400 people.