The Venezuelan government said Saturday that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia went into hiding after challenging President Nicolas Maduro’s contested re-election — has left the country to seek asylum in Spain.
“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 said on social media, adding that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage and that he had left .
The opposition could not immediately be reached for comment.
Venezuela has been in a political crisis since authorities declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election. The opposition cried foul, claiming they had evidence that González had won by a comfortable margin.
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Many nations, including the United StatesThe European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro as the winner without Caracas releasing detailed vote data.
After the election, Venezuelan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for González over his insistence that he is the rightful winner of the election.
Before leaving the country, he had been in hiding for a month, ignoring three consecutive summonses to appear before prosecutors.
Violence after the election in Venezuela has claimed 27 lives and left 192 people injured while the government says it has arrested around 2,400 people.