SANTO DOMINGO.-The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, will receive today the opposition candidate of the Venezuelan elections held on July 28.
Edmundo González Urrutia will visit the country as part of his tour of several countries in the region and before (as he has said he intends) returning to Venezuela to assume power on January 10.
Abinader has maintained a firm position regarding the crisis in Venezuela, calling on several occasions (including at the inauguration of his second term), to respect the popular will and demanding that the scrutiny minutes of the past process be shown.
Meanwhile, left-wing groups in the country have questioned the president’s position and affirm that his attitude is interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela.
Edmundo’s tour
As for González Urrutia, he has been on a diplomatic tour since the beginning of January, seeking international legitimacy after exhausting a period as an exile in Spain, where he arrived on September 8 as a political exile.
Among the presidents with whom he has met on his tour in search of support, those held with Joe Biden, president of the United States, stand out; Javier Milei from Argentina and José Raul Mulino from Panama.
A group of former presidents will accompany González Urrutia on his supposed trip to be sworn in in Venezuela. Included in that list are Juan Manuel Santos from Colombia, Laura Chinchilla from Costa Rica and Ricardo Lagos from Chile.
Yesterday, it was notified that former President Hipólito Mejía would also join the group of former presidents.
Delicate scenario
All of this occurs in a delicate scenario, due to the warnings issued by the ruling party in Venezuela, which apparently remains under the control of the Armed Forces.
The leader of the Venezuelan parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, stated that if he sets foot on Venezuelan soil, both Urrutia and the former presidents who promise to accompany him will be arrested.
Speaking on the subject, the political strategist, Raniero Cassoni, indicated that for the journey to be successful, the former presidents must have internal support in Venezuela and he presumes that this is the reason for the call for protests that the opposition has called.
Demonstrations
Both the ruling party and the opposition have called for massive demonstrations in Caracas for Thursday. To date, the National Electoral Council of Venezuela has not presented the scrutiny minutes of the process carried out on July 28, 2024.
However, the opposition took a significant percentage of them and has announced the results that favor Edmundo.
Withdraw support
— Gustavo Petro
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has withdrawn his support for Maduro, considering that the elections were not transparent. However, he said he will maintain diplomatic relations due to the historical ties that unite them.
