Venezuela complains to the Netherlands for hiding Edmundo

Deputy Minister for Europe of Venezuela’s Coromoto Godoy delivered a complaint note on Monday to the Dutch chargé d’affaires, Robert Schuddeboom, for having “hidden” the entry of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia into his residence in Caracas.

“I delivered to the chargé d’affaires of the Kingdom of the Netherlands the strongest protest of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela against the interventionist and illegal conduct of the diplomatic representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” Godoy said in a post on X, where he shared a photograph of the meeting with Schuddeboom.

The official said that the Netherlands, in an “arrogant and unfriendly attitude,” covered up the organization and direction of activities “against the stability and peace of the country by citizen Edmundo González.”

Godoy pointed out that the aggravating factor is that the secrecy was maintained, even “when the aforementioned citizen was being required to appear before the courts, thus allowing him to avoid his responsibilities before the Venezuelan justice system.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said on Sunday, through a video posted on Telegram, that the Netherlands “gave the opposition leader guest status,” which, he said, “is irregular” since the Venezuelan government was not informed.

“We are going to send a note of protest to the Dutch government because we should have been informed, according to international protocols. They hid it. Why did they hide this information? They will have to clarify it to the national and world public opinion,” said the official.

According to a statement signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Caspar Veldkamp, ​​González Urrutia was offered “hospitality, for the necessary time, at the residence of the chargé d’affaires.”

In the document, published by the House of Representatives of the States General of the NetherlandsVeldkamp reported that the opposition leader entered on July 29, the day after the presidential elections, something that Gil criticized by stating that “his plan was never an electoral issue.”

The opposition leader arrived in Madrid on Sunday after requesting asylum because he believed he was facing political and judicial persecution in Venezuela following the presidential election, whose official victory was awarded by the National Electoral Council (CNE) to Nicolás Maduro, a result later validated by the Supreme Court of Justice, although questioned inside and outside the country.