Gonzalez faces arrest over charges of allegedly forging election documents and attempting to undermine the government’s Electoral Council.
The vice president of Venezuela said on Saturday that opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has left the country for political asylum in Spain.
Gonzalez went into hiding days after the contested results of Venezuela’s July election were announced by the government-controlled National Electoral Council (NEC) on July 28, which declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner with 52 percent support without releasing detailed voting data.
Meanwhile, the opposition published detailed voting tallies from a majority of voting precincts online, which it says is evidence that Gonzalez won by a convincing margin of over two-thirds. In response, Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a staunch Maduro ally, issued warrants for González’s arrest over charges of allegedly forging election documents and attempting to undermine the NEC.
Gonzalez had failed to appear three times in connection to the criminal electoral sabotage investigation.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Saturday that González had left Venezuela from the Spanish embassy where he was seeking asylum.
“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, [Gonzalez Urrutia] asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” she said on Instagram.