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The man considered by many the real winner of the recent election in Venezuela has fled the country and been granted asylum in Spain.
Spain’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday that opposition candidate Edmundo González had left Venezuela in a Spanish air force plane.
González stood against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the presidential vote in July. The left-wing strongman, who has ruled the country since 2013 after the death of Hugo Chavez, declared himself the winner in the contested election.
However, the country’s opposition has been able to collect a majority of voter tallies in the aftermath of the polls, with results showing González beating Maduro by a handy margin.
“The government of Spain reiterates its commitment to the political rights and physical integrity of all Venezuelans, especially political leaders,” Spain’s foreign ministry said in its statement.
A Venezuelan judge last Monday issued an arrest warrant for the 75-year-old González, but Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said that the opposition leader had been granted safe passage out of the South American nation “for the sake of the tranquility and political peace of the country.”
Maduro has overseen a dramatic decline in the economic fortunes of the oil-rich state, with petroluem production at a fraction of where it was in the past. The number of refugees seeking to flee the country and escape poverty, meanwhile, has exploded in recent years.
The recent reappointment of the government, meanwhile, has been roundly condemned, while the vote results have been recognized by other autocratic states including Russia, China and Cuba.
