Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia said on Wednesday that he signed a document confirming Nicolás Maduro’s electoral victory under “coercion, blackmail and pressure” in order to be able to leave for exile in Spain, in a video message posted on his Twitter account. The politician considers the document, due to the way it was signed, to be null and void.
“Either I signed it or I would face the consequences,” explained González Urrutia – exiled since September 8 in Spain, where he is seeking political asylum – about the text that, according to him, two leaders of Maduro’s entourage brought to the Spanish embassy in Caracas, where he was taking refuge, and which gave rise to “very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure.”
González’s explanations come after the Venezuelan government attributed to the opposition candidate a letter, displayed by the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, in which he informed the Venezuelan authorities of his decision to request asylum in Spain and said he “abides by” the court ruling that validated the reelection of President Maduro.
«I will never betray them”
In that letter, the opposition leader also promised to keep a low profile in his exile. The text was shared by the Ministry of Communication in a Telegram group: it consists of two pages and has no signatures. González Urrutia explains in his message that it was Rodríguez himself and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez who presented him with the letter, and that they threatened to not give him a safe conduct that would allow him to leave Venezuela for exile.
“At that time I considered that I could be more useful free than locked up and unable to fulfill the tasks entrusted to me by the Sovereign,” argued the former ambassador. “A document produced under duress is vitiated by absolute nullity due to a serious defect in consent,” added González Urrutia, assuring his followers that “they will not silence me, I will never betray them.”
González Urrutia criticized the fact that the Maduro regime “always resorts to dirty tricks, blackmail and manipulation.” “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 are not going to silence a country that has already spoken,” he said.
The Venezuelan opposition led by María Corina Machado denounced fraud in the elections that gave Maduro a third six-year term (2025-2031) and claims González’s victory. The opposition leader spent a month in hiding before requesting asylum in Spain, following an arrest warrant against him.
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