Daily Times

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 Venezuelan government said Saturday opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia — in hiding after he challenged President Nicolas Maduro’s disputed reelection — has left the country, seeking asylum in Spain.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, (Gonzalez Urrutia) asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” Venezuela’s vice president said on social media, adding that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage.

A lawyer for Gonzalez Urrutia confirmed to AFP the opposition candidate had departed for Spain.

Venezuela has been in a political crisis since authorities declared Maduro the victor of the July 28 election. The opposition cried foul, claiming it had evidence Gonzalez Urrutia had won by a comfortable margin.

Numerous nations, including the United States, 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 Gonzalez Urrutia over his insistence that he was the rightful winner of the election.

Prior to leaving the country, he had been in hiding for a month, ignoring three successive summons to appear before prosecutors. He had said that attending the hearing could have cost his freedom.

Post-election violence in Venezuela has claimed 27 lives and left 192 people injured, while the government says it has arrested some 2,400 people.

Authorities said Maduro had won reelection to a third, six-year term with 52 percent of the vote. The opposition published its own voting records, which it says showed Gonzalez Urrutia winning 67 percent of the vote.