In the audio of approximately 41 seconds, González Urrutia said he had arrived in Madrid, Spain, in the morning hours of this Sunday, September 8. It was learned that he traveled with his wife.
As the agency was able to verify EFE, The presidential candidate in the elections of July 28 traveled on a Spanish Air Force plane and made a stopover at 10:29 a.m. (12:29 p.m. Spanish time) at the Portuguese airport of Lajes, on the island of Terceira in the Azores archipelago.
The Spanish military aircraft, model F900 Dassault Falcon, had taken off almost six hours earlier from Las Americas International Airport in Punta Caucedo, Dominican Republic, where he had arrived from Venezuela in the previous hours. In his brief statements, González Urrutia offered his gratitude for the expressions of solidarity received after his departure from Venezuela to Spain, where he requested political asylum.
For his part, his lawyer José Vicente Haro, explained to CNN that in the last three weeks the maximum defense was carried out after the actions of “judicial persecution” of the Public Ministry against him.
He said that “González Urrutia remained firm in remaining in Venezuela under these circumstances.” However, as María Corina Machado pointed out on Sunday, “her life was in danger, as was her physical integrity, her freedom and her personal safety,” which is why the decision was made to request asylum in Spain.
Haro said that the possibility of leaving the country was evaluated last Thursday and it was not until Friday night that an “emergency, necessary decision” was made, due to the risk surrounding González Urrutia and his family. “If González Urrutia was apprehended or captured, I am sure that the majority of Venezuelans would feel great suffering for his life and fear for his fate.”
