Edmundo Gonzalez is seeking asylum in Spain after he challenged the re-election of Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela has said that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has left the country after a day of rising diplomatic tensions and is seeking 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 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.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares wrote on X that Gonzalez had requested asylum and was travelling to the country on a Spanish air force plane.
“The government of Spain is committed to the political rights of all Venezuelans,” he said.
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.