Paraguayan Senate rejects arrest warrant against Edmundo

The Senate of Paraguay “strongly” rejected this Wednesday the recent Arrest warrant issued against Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutiawhile repudiating the “attempted electoral fraud” allegedly committed by the re-elected president of the Caribbean country, Nicolás Maduro, in the last presidential elections.

This was announced by opposition senator Eduardo Nakayama on his social network X account, in which he confirmed that the Upper House approved “unanimously” a declaration in which he also «rejects the attempt to ignore the popular will» in the elections of July 28, when Maduro was declared the winner for a third six-year term in power.

The senators declared that they “strongly reject the recent arrest warrant issued against Edmundo González Urrutia by dictator Nicolás Maduro Moros.”

Investigation against Edmundo Gonzalez

Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office on Tuesday requested a court order to arrest Gonzalez, accusing him of crimes including “usurpation of functions” and “forgery of public documents,” after the opposition leader failed to attend three summonses from that authority.

The investigation is related to the publication of a website in which the main opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – claims to have uploaded “83.5% of the electoral records”, with which they claim that González was the winner of the elections.

Paraguayan Senate demands publication of electoral records

The Senate’s statement also calls on the Venezuelan government to “immediately publish the original minutes” of the election, documents that the National Electoral Council has in its possession and has not yet made public despite pressure from a large part of the international community.

They also requested an “independent and impartial” verification of the minutes to “guarantee respect for the popular will expressed through the vote and to make Edmundo González the virtual winner of the elections.”

The Paraguayan government also expressed on Tuesday its “strongest condemnation” of the arrest warrant for the opposition leader and condemned “these arbitrary actions of intimidation” against González and members of the Venezuelan opposition.

The arrest warrant was also questioned by the Organization of American States (OAS) and by countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.