MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro now salutes González Urrutia in exile

Maduro has shifted from calling González Urrutia a “murderer” to wishing him “all the best in his new life”

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said in his weekly TV show Monday that he now respects former presidential candidate and retired diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who sought asylum in Spain after insisting he had won the July 28 elections, for which an arrest warrant had been issued against him.

“I can tell Ambassador González Urrutia, with whom I have confronted hard after July 29, that I have been attentive to all this and I understand the step he has taken and I respect him, I hope he does well on his way and in his new life,” Maduro stressed. “Rest assured that your wishes for peace will be fulfilled,” he added on “Con Maduro +.”

Regarding the ways González Urrutia fled Caracas and the negotiations with Spain, Maduro invoked the Bolivarian regime's right to “state secrecy.” Nevertheless, Venezuela's Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez admitted in a statement that there were contacts with the Socialist Government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in this regard, which would contradict Madrid's allegations on the matter. Rodríguez said she handled most of the talks herself.

Also in Caracas, Venezuela's United Socialist Party (PSUV) First Vice President Diosdado Cabello said González Urrutia was fleeing from the fascism of the far right and insisted that no ambassador can arrive in the country believing that he is going to “overthrow the legitimately constituted Government.”

After it was known that González Urrutia had been sheltering at the Dutch Embassy right after the July 28 elections, Cabello also claimed that the retired diplomat's plan “was never electoral” while pointing fingers at The Netherlands' alleged alignment with imperialist interests.

In line with Rodríguez's version, Cabello denied Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares' claims that there were no negotiations between Caracas and Madrid.

Cabello also criticized Argentine President Javier Milei whom he urged to stay away from Venezuela's internal affairs and take care of the poverty and inflation affecting the Libertarian administration.

Despite González Urrutia's exile, disenfranchised opposition leader María Corina Machado pledged to keep fighting for him to be recognized by “the whole world” as the legitimate winner of the July 28 process and have him sworn in on Jan. 10, 2025. She also reckoned that González Urrutia's departure meant a higher risk for her, who remained as the sole visible face of the anti-Chavista movement. “In any case, I have decided to remain in Venezuela and accompany the struggle from here while he does it from outside,” a weakened Machado argued.