What does it mean for the Spanish Congress to recognize Edmundo González as the elected president of Venezuela?
The news comes at a time when Venezuela still has 1,793 people detained since the July 28 elections, including 59 minors, according to data from the independent organization Foro Penal. However, according to the Chavista government, the number of prisoners exceeds 2,500, which is why González left the country with his wife in an attempt to evade the arrest warrant issued against him by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Nevertheless, This decision puts opposition leader María Corina Machado at greater risk, as she remains in hiding and has not clarified whether she was aware of González’s departure.
Maria Corina Machado. Photo: EFE
Now the opposition, from Madrid, will have a crucial role and will have to make use of the diplomacy that he exercised for years as an ambassador for trying to push for a solution to the political crisis that broke out when the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro’s victory without showing evidence of the vote.
The recognition of Edmundo González as president-elect by the Spanish Congress is a situation that will put Sánchez and the rest of the European Union in a difficult position. The proposal was voted on following a project promoted in the Legislature by the Popular Party (PP) supported by allies of the socialist government.
The proposal was adopted by 177 deputies against 164, and is symbolic because it does not oblige Pedro Sánchez’s Executive, which in line with the European position has so far demanded that the electoral records of the elections of July 28 be made public.
What does the decision entail?
In practice, the decision of Congress has no legal significance, although it does have significance for the purposes of parliamentary recognition.as it forces legislators to take a position and in this case it is a key issue in the national political debate.
The initiative, presented by the conservative PP, also calls for an end to the repression of protests, the release of political prisoners and for contributions to the personal security of Machado and González Urrutia, while requesting that the Executive lead the recognition of González in the European institutions, with the aim of him taking office as president of Venezuela on January 10, 2025.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Photo: EFE
LThe Venezuelan crisis was debated on Tuesday in the Spanish Parliament as if it were a matter of internal politics, and has exacerbated the confrontation between the left and the right and the differences within the bloc that supports the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez.
It was the PP deputy Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, very involved with the Venezuelan opposition, who defended the initiative and did so with the opposition members Leopoldo López, Antonio Ledezma and Carolina González, daughter of Edmundo González, in the guest gallery.
Citing UN reports, Álvarez de Toledo denounced “armed electoral theft” and repression in the form of arbitrary arrests and torture.
From the socialist ranks, Cristina Narbona recalled that No EU government, not even the conservative ones, has so far raised “the opportunity and convenience” of recognising González as president, an argument that does not convince the PP.who recalled that Spain did break the European consensus by recognising Palestine as a State.
The right-wing initiative will go ahead with the support of the Basque Nationalist Party, an ally of the socialist government, which on this occasion will vote with the conservatives because it believes that if the proposal fails it would represent a moral victory for the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
While the debate was taking place in the Congress, hundreds of Venezuelan opposition members gathered in front of Congress to demand recognition of the victory of Edmundo González, who in a message read by his daughter reaffirmed his commitment to the fight for freedom in Venezuela.
Edmundo González assures that he will fight “until the end”
Edmundo González is prohibited from speaking publicly, at least until his asylum status in Spain is clarified, explained his lawyer José Vicente Haro. However, on Tuesday he sent a message that was read by his daughter Carolina González, who migrated to Spain years ago.
The daughter of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, Carolina González, in front of the Spanish Parliament. Photo: EFE
“I want to confirm the unwavering commitment I made, I call on the international community to redouble its efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela,” read the 75-year-old daughter of the former ambassador.
“The will of the people must be respected, (the opposition leader) María Corina Machado and I are committed to continue fighting until we achieve our objectives, until the end.” “Do not be discouraged, I will not let you down,” concluded the message, received with applause and shouts by the demonstrators, in which González also thanks the Spanish government for “giving me support.”
A message that, according to Leopoldo López, a former political prisoner and asylum seeker in Spain, “ratifies his commitment as the elected president of Venezuela” and “clears up doubts” sown by Nicolás Maduro.
The Venezuelan president also spoke out about his rival’s departure. “I understand the step he has taken and I respect it and I hope that he does well on his path and in his new life,” Maduro said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Photo: EFE
Maduro, Lopez said, has tried to “sow doubt that Edmundo Gonzalez gave up the fight; no, today we heard clearly that Edmundo Gonzalez assumes his responsibility as president-elect.”
However, she added: “He knows that the road to January 10 – the date of the presidential inauguration – is not a straight line, that there are obstacles, but as María Corina said, the fact that Edmundo is out does not mean that they can twist the reality of what happened in the elections.”
Former Caracas Metropolitan Mayor Antonio Ledezma said: “We are entering another phase, the phase of recognition, so that Europe and other continents recognize the president who has legitimacy.”
The Venezuelans who gathered in front of the Spanish Congress demanding the recognition of González, were also accompanied by the leader of the Vox party, Santiago Abascal, who demanded “the immediate recognition of all democratic nations of Edmundo González as president of Venezuela” to “achieve the expulsion of the tyrant Maduro and make all his accomplices pay for what they have done to Venezuela, including the Spanish accomplices”.
Protesters in Madrid demand recognition of Edmundo González as Venezuela’s president-elect. Photo: AFP
The 45 UN member countries, which called on Venezuela to “put an end to the wave of repression against political opponents and protesters that is intensifying throughout the country” and to immediately and unconditionally release those arbitrarily detained, also demanded that “international standards on due process and conditions of detention” be respected without restrictions.
Among the States that support the declaration are Latin American nations such as Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, together with EU Member States such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Germany, as well as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada.
In the weeks since the July 28 election, the situation has worsened with “arbitrary arrests of opposition figures, journalists and protesters, including children, adolescents, women and people with disabilities,” the statement said.
There was disproportionate use of force by security forces and also by groups of armed civilians known as “collectives,” as well as other abuses including “the judicial persecution initiated by the Venezuelan State against presidential candidate Edmundo González.”
María Corina Machado thanked these countries for their initiative and assured that “the path remains firm and the fight does not stop.”
*The Grupo de Diarios América (GDA), to which El Nacional belongs, is a network of leading media founded in 1991, which promotes democratic values, independent press and freedom of expression in Latin America through quality journalism for our audiences.
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