After visits to Panama and the Dominican Republic this week, Edmundo González says he wants to travel to Venezuela to be inaugurated as president on Friday.
A few days before the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González was in Panama on Wednesday to defend his claim to last July’s presidential election.
Accompanied by a dozen former Latin American leaders, he claims to have shown Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino photos of the original ballots that would show his landslide presidential victory over Nicolás Maduro.
“Venezuela is going through a very complicated period because the regime is clinging to power despite a large electoral defeat”said Edmundo González after thanking José Raúl Mulino for his support. “The elections were blatantly stolen”.
Edmundo González claims the post of president
The meeting comes after the Venezuelan opposition leader left his exile in Madrid to meet US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Argentina and Uruguay.
After his tour of the region, which includes a stop in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, Edmundo González said he plans to travel to Venezuela to take office as president on Friday.
The leader of the opposition, Maria Corina Machado, for her part, called for a massive mobilization in Venezuela this Friday, while the regime of Nicolás Maduro offered a reward of $97,000 for the capture of Edmundo González.
The Venezuelan opposition also welcomed on Wednesday the decision of Colombian left-wing leader Gustavo Petro not to attend the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro following the arrest of a human rights activist in Venezuela.
“We cannot recognize elections that were not free”wrote Gustavo Petro on the social network X on Wednesday.
Severe crackdowns on the opposition
The government of Nicolás Maduro has not never released official ballot tallies, documents the opposition says it collected through a massive popular effort.
Hundreds of opponents have been arrested in Venezuela since the election and Edmundo González said Tuesday that his son-in-law had been kidnapped.
Nicolás Maduro’s repression and proclamation of victory sparked strong criticism across the region.
Panama was one of the first Latin American countries to demand from the Venezuelan authorities a complete review of the results of the presidential election. The government of José Raúl Mulino declared that it would suspend relations with Caracas in the meantime.
“We want to make you understand that Panama is with you and with the legitimacy that you represent”declared the Panamanian president to Edmundo González.
