Santo Domingo.- The Venezuelan opposition Edmundo González Urrutiawho claims to have won the July presidential elections in his country, ended this Thursday in Saint Dominic his tour of America in search of international support, leaving a message of hope about the Venezuelan future.
“Soon we will meet in Caracas, free,” he declared. Gonzalez Urrutia during an event held at the National Palace, accompanied by the Dominican President, Luis Abinaderand former leaders of Grupo Idea. The day coincided with opposition demonstrations in several countries in support of democracy in Venezuela.
Gonzalez Urrutia was present at the rally held in the Dominican capital, where he was received with shouts of ‘president, president’ and ‘freedom, freedom’ and in which he once again sent a positive message: “We trust that, just as today, joy overflows “This square, very soon the streets of Caracas will be congested with this same joy.”
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Despite these words of hope, the opponent had previously warned in the National Palace about the situation in Venezuelawhich “is experiencing the worst escalation of repressive violence in its history” and whose regime headed by Nicolas Maduro represents “a threat to the hemisphere.”
“The only way to respect the sovereignty of our country is to recognize the popular and sovereign mandate expressed on July 28” in the presidential elections, he highlighted and underlined: “Venezuelans are determined to persevere in this fight until the end.”
A fight that is also “our fight”, in the words of the Dominican president, who, addressing the Venezuelan authorities, affirmed that “they still have time to cross to the right side of history.”
«Open the doors to a peaceful transition to democracy, return freedom to Venezuela. Because it is never too late to respect the will of a people that, I suppose, they must love,” Abinader said.
Abinaderwho in his speech never referred to Edmundo González as president-elect, stressed that “no regime can resist forever the strength of a people determined to be free.”
All this occurred shortly before the opponent Venezuela Command denounce the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of the anti-Chavista leader María Corina Machadoafter he led a demonstration in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration after having remained in hiding for 133 days.
own Gonzalez Urrutia reacted to this situation on his social network account X by demanding the “immediate release” of Machado and, in a subsequent message, he wrote: «Very serious! “That María Corina is free does not minimize the fact of what happened, she was kidnapped under conditions of violence.”
Before this, the opponent had expressed his support on this day of protest: “María Corina, from here, with you and all the Venezuelan people, LET’S GO!”
During his visit to the Dominican Republic, the last announced stop of a tour that has also taken him to Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Panama, Gonzalez Urrutia He was accompanied by former presidents Hipólito Mejía (Dominican Republic), Jorge Quiroga (Bolivia), Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica), Andrés Pastrana (Colombia), Jamil Mahuad (Ecuador), Felipe Calderón and Vicente Fox (Mexico), as well as by the secretary general of Idea Groupthe Venezuelan Asdrubal Aguiar.
With this tour, Gonzalez Urrutia sought to gather support for the investiture in Caracas this Friday, January 10, in which Nicolas Maduro He has already said that he will assume a new mandate, amid opposition complaints of fraud in the elections.
The Dominican Republic is the place for the announced closing of this trip and also at the time, on August 16 during the investiture of Abinaderwas the scenario in which 22 countries and the European Union signed a declaration requesting the “immediate publication of all the original minutes” of the elections in Venezuela and the “impartial and independent” verification of the results of those votes, in which he National Electoral Council gave as winner to Ripe.
The Venezuelan opposition assures that it has gathered “85% of the electoral records”, which were published on a website for consultation, through witnesses and polling station members on the night of the elections, which according to them attest to the victory of Gonzalez Urrutiadocuments that the Government describes as “false.”
