SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The Venezuelan opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalezsaid Wednesday that he was coerced into signing a letter in which he recognized Nicolás Maduro’s victory in the July presidential elections, which according to the regime’s authorities were won by the Chavista ruler.
Amid a worsening of the country’s political tension, also marked by González’s recent departure into exile in Spain, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the National Assembly and Maduro’s main negotiator, presented during a nationally televised press conference a letter showing González as the sender and It is addressed to Rodriguez himself; in it, the opposition recognized Maduro as the winner of the elections.
According to the Chavista, González signed the letter of his own free will, but the opposition member claims in a video on social media that he signed it under duress.
In the text, González acknowledged “the decisions adopted by the justice bodies within the framework of the Constitution, including the aforementioned ruling by the Electoral Chamber” and stated: “Although I do not agree with it, I abide by it.”
#Release to Venezuelans to inform them of the whole truth of what happened with my departure from Venezuela pic.twitter.com/SULvChfo9n
— Edmundo González (@EdmundoGU) September 18, 2024
With this, he accredited the victory that the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) attributed to Nicolás Maduro.
However, González, from Madrid, explained that the events occurred in an adverse context for him.
“There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure. At those times I considered that I could be more useful free than locked up and unable to fulfill the tasks entrusted to me by the sovereign. A document produced under coercion is vitiated by absolute nullity, due to a serious defect in consent,” he said in a video.
The letter states that he will limit his public activity abroad and that he will not represent the public powers of the Venezuelan State, whether formal or informal.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is packed with Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner of the election hours after polls closed. Unlike in previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide a detailed recount of the votes.
But the opposition coalition collected the records of 80% of the country’s electronic voting records and published them online. Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the records showed the former diplomat had won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
After his recent departure In Spain, Edmundo González Urrutia, a Venezuelan opposition candidate forced into exile, appealed for dialogue and reiterated that only in this way will they be able to “reunite” as compatriots.
“I am incompatible with resentment. Only the politics of dialogue can make us rediscover ourselves as compatriots. Only democracy and the realization of the popular will can be the path to our future as a country and I will remain committed to this,” he wrote on his social networks on Monday.
In his statement, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Unity Roundtable said that his decision to leave his country to receive political asylum in Spain was made after thinking about his family and all Venezuelan families “in this moment of so much tension and anguish.”
