Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González threatened with arrest warrant

Caracas. Venezuelan prosecutors on Friday summoned opposition leader Edmundo González, who is under investigation for his allegations of fraud in the July 28 presidential election, to testify and warned that any violation of the law would result in an arrest warrant.

This is the third summons issued by the prosecutor’s office this week. The two previous ones were ignored by President Nicolás Maduro’s rival in the elections, considering that this body acts as a “political accuser” that would subject him to a process “without guarantees of independence and due process.”

“If you do not appear before this prosecutor’s office on the date indicated above,” the summons warns, “it will be considered that we are in the presence of a risk of flight (…) and a risk of obstruction (…) for which reason the corresponding arrest warrant will be processed.”

González Urrutia, who turns 75 this Thursday, has been in hiding since July 30, when he last appeared in public. Since then, he has only communicated through social media.

The summons, like the two previous ones, does not specify the capacity in which he was summoned: accused, witness or expert, according to Venezuelan law.

He is talking about “giving an interview in relation to the facts that this office is investigating” for the alleged commission of “usurpation of functions” and “forgery of public documents”, crimes that could theoretically lead to a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

The subpoena targets the website where opposition leader Maria Corina Machado posted copies of more than 80 percent of the voting records, which she says prove Gonzalez’s victory on July 28 and Maduro’s fraud.

The documents were dismissed by Chavismo and the Supreme Court ordered an investigation after validating the official result of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which declared Maduro the winner with 52 percent of the votes.

González Urrutia will participate this Thursday via videoconference in a meeting of EU foreign ministers to present an overview of the situation in his country.

“The situation in Venezuela is critical. That is why I have invited the candidate who has presented results that demonstrate that [el presidente, Nicolás] “Maduro has not won this election,” Borrell said upon arriving at the meeting.

“The repression in Venezuela continues. Members of opposition groups have been arrested and disappeared. We are very concerned about the situation of opposition leaders,” added the head of the EU’s diplomacy.

“Preparing his escape”

González was an accidental candidate in the presidential election, after the disqualification of Machado, winner of the primaries of the main opposition coalition, the Unitary Platform.

“He turned out to be a coward, he’s hiding,” Maduro said ironically on Wednesday at a march to commemorate “the victory” a month before the elections. “And they tell me he’s preparing to escape.”

Maduro has called for jail time for himself and Machado, whom he also holds responsible for acts of violence in the post-election protests, which left 27 dead – two of them soldiers -, almost 200 injured and more than 2,400 detained, a hundred of them minors.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab had already announced a criminal investigation against both men for “inciting military insurrection,” after calling on the military to recognize their victory.

Jurists have classified these summons as irregular.

González was also declared in contempt by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) for ignoring the call to participate in the election certification process, which he and experts considered inappropriate.

One month after the elections, Machado led a demonstration in Caracas on Wednesday in which she claimed the victory of the opposition.

“Every day that passes we are moving forward, we have a robust strategy and it is working,” said Machado. “They say that the regime is not going to give in… We are going to make it give in and giving in means respecting the will expressed on July 28,” said the leader.