The President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, warned the former opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, “that no one is above the laws and institutions,” referring to the subpoenas issued by State institutions which he has ignored.
“No one in this country is above the laws and institutions as the coward Edmundo González Urrutia, the enconchao, as I call him, has tried to do. He tries to be above the law, the Prosecutor’s Office summoned him 3 times and he did not show up, because it does not recognize the Public Prosecutor’s Office either. In no country is that possible; it is inadmissible,” the head of State said during the broadcast of his program N°55 Con Maduro+.
As an example, he mentioned the American president, Donald Trump, who has been summoned by more than 18 different courts and has not refused at any time, and he assured that if that were to happen, “they would put the hooks on him.”
He said that the vast majority of Venezuelans agree that there should be order and that the Constitution should be respected so that the established institutions and public powers can do their job.
Chronology of González Urrutia’s absences
- June 20, 2024: González did not attend the summons issued by the National Electoral Council to all presidential candidates to commit to respecting the results of the June 28 presidential elections.
- August 7: He was due to appear before the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to submit documents related to the elections of July 28, so the chamber recorded his failure to appear in the minutes and subsequently declared him in contempt.
- Between August 26 and 30, González received three summons from the 58th Prosecutor’s Office to appear for “an interview in relation to the events being investigated with the publication of the website,” where alleged presidential election records in the hands of the opposition are aired, but he did not attend any of the summons.
