Edmundo González claims that he met Delsy and Jorge Rodríguez at the Spanish embassy

Madrid. Edmundo González, the Venezuelan opposition leader who decided to go into exile in Spain last week, released a statement in which he appears reading a communiqué in which he announces that he is “in order to inform you of the whole truth of what happened with my departure from Venezuela.” The former presidential candidate stated that during his confinement in the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas he met with Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, and with Delsy Rodríguez, vice president of the Republic, who, according to his version, “showed up with a document that I had to endorse to allow my departure from the country.”

González said: “The regime wants all Venezuelans to lose hope. The whole world knows that they always resort to dirty tricks, blackmail and manipulation. While I was at the residence of the Spanish ambassador, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, and the vice president of the Republic, Delsy Rodríguez, showed up with a document that I had to sign to allow me to leave the country. In other words: either I signed or I faced the consequences. There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure. At that time I considered that I could be more useful free than locked up and unable to carry out the tasks entrusted to me by the sovereign. A document produced under coercion is tainted by absolute nullity due to a serious defect in consent.”

The opposition leader also stated that “as the elected president of millions and millions of Venezuelans who voted for change, democracy and peace, I will not be silenced. I will never betray them. Each and every person I have spoken to so far knows this. The international community continues to increase its support for the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people. What they should be disclosing are the voting records; the truth is what it is and it is in the records that you are trying to hide. You will not silence a country that has already spoken. Millions of Venezuelans have the will for change and I will fulfill that mandate.”

Meanwhile, the Spanish Senate approved, thanks to an absolute majority of the right-wing Popular Party (PP), a motion in which they recognise González as the “legitimate president” of the country and urge the Executive, led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, to do the same. This declaration is similar to the one approved in the Congress of Deputies that gave rise to the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.