Venezuela says presidential opposition candidate Gonzalez has left country 

Madrid has announced that it would grant political asylum to Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who was heading into exile in Spain after a month in hiding in the crisis-hit South American country.

Madrid’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Sunday that Gonzalez had requested political asylum in the European country, and that Spain would “obviously” grant it to him.

He earlier confirmed on X that the opposition leader had departed on a Spanish military plane, adding that Spain was “committed to the political rights” of all Venezuelans.

Caracas said it had agreed to his safe passage.

Gonzalez, who disputed President Nicolas Maduro’s July 28 re-election, left Venezuela after ignoring three successive summons to appear before prosecutors, arguing that attending the hearing could have cost him his freedom.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, [Gonzalez] asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on social media, adding that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage.

Venezuela has been in crisis since authorities declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 presidential election but did not release the detailed results.

The opposition cried foul, claiming it had evidence that 75-year-old Gonzalez had won by a comfortable margin.

Venezuela on Saturday revoked Brazil’s authorisation to represent Argentinian interests in the country, including running the embassy where six opposition figures are sheltering, the Venezuelan government said. The country broke relations with Argentina immediately after the election.

Brazil, like Colombia and Mexico, has asked the Venezuelan government to publish the full results of the vote.

Gonzalez had been in hiding for a month after prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for him over his insistence that he was the rightful winner.

At least 27 people have been killed and 192 injured in protests since the election. Maduro’s government says it has arrested some 2,400 people.

Prior to the election, Gonzalez was a little-known retired diplomat.

He became the last-minute presidential candidate after main opposition figure Maria Corina Machado was banned from running by state institutions seen as loyal to Maduro.

After Venezuela’s last election, in 2018, Maduro was proclaimed winner amid widespread accusations of fraud.

He has led the oil-rich but cash-poor country since 2013.

His tenure, which has suffered from domestic economic mismanagement as well as international sanctions, has seen GDP drop 80 percent and more than seven million of the country’s 30 million citizens emigrate.