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Does this mean Venezuela is about to have another parallel government with a puppet leader in exile? In other words, a Guaidó 2.0? Probably not.
There are shades of deja vu to recent developments in post-election Venezuela. Edmundo González Urrutia, the 75-year-old Venezuelan opposition leader who ran for president in the July 28 elections and is claimed to have won by a landslide by opposition supporters, fled to Spain on Sunday, where he is expected to reside as a political exile for the foreseeable future.
Spain’s Pedro Sánchez government agreed to grant González Urrutia political asylum following the mediation of former Spanish President José Luis Zapatero. In a speech on Monday, Sánchez referred to González Urrutia as a “hero,” likening him to persecuted politicians in countries like Russia and Palestine. Spain has offered asylum to several Venezuelan opposition figures in recent years, including Leopoldo López, a far-right politician who escaped house arrest in 2019.
González Urritia’s exile to Spain leaves Venezuela’s already fractured opposition in a much weakened state — a fact that even some opposition figures such as Ana Milagros Parra, a political scientist, are willing to admit: “It cannot be denied that this is a blow to the democratic movement because it gives the government an opportunity to control the narrative,” so they can say “we are winning and the opposition was always divided.”
Unanswered Questions
González Urritia first took refuge in Spain’s Embassy in Caracas before being granted safe passage by Maduro government. Before that, he was a guest for roughly a month at the Dutch Embassy next door. As the Dutch Foreign Minister, Caspar Veldkamp, revealed in a letter to the Dutch Parliament, the opposition presidential candidate had taken refuge at the ambassador’s residence on July 29, the day after the elections.
Following this revelation, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yvan Gil, said Caracas will file a formal note of protest to the Dutch government for giving refuge to the opposition leader for an entire month without informing Venezuelan authorities. The timing of Gónzalez Urritia’s arrival at the embassy is also drawing suspicions.
“What did Mr. González Urrutia know was about to happen in Venezuela?” said Gil in a video, pointing out that while the candidate took refuge at the Dutch embassy, “terror commanders were burning down hospitals and schools”.
Spain’s role in the proceedings is also far from clear. The country’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has denied any coordination with the Venezuela government to facilitate González Urrutia’s safe-conduct out of the country, which begs the question: how was the Spanish government able to pull off such a feat without first liaising with its counterparts in Caracas?
“It is strange that the Spanish foreign minister says such things,” said Diosdado Cabello, the hugely influential first vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and Minister of the Interior. “How does a Spanish government plane get here to Venezuela?… Did it invade us? No, no, no. It was discussed, worked on, if he does not want to use the term ‘negotiated’”.
Despite denying that it coordinated the operation with Caracas, the Spanish government is happy to acknowledge former Spanish PM Zapatero’s role in mediating between the two sides. The presumed reason for all this nonsensical subterfuge is the government’s fear of a backlash from Spain’s two main opposition parties, the Popular Party (PP) and Vox, both of which are rabidly anti-Chavista.
Both have called for a vote in Congress to recognise González Urrutia as Venezuela’s president elect. At the same time, former PP Prime Minister José María Aznar’s think tank, FAES, has blasted the government’s granting of asylum to Edmundo González, calling it “an act of complicity with the Maduro regime when it is was at its weakest.” All of the Maduro government’s “repressive hatred” will now be focused squarely on fellow opposition leader, María Corina Machado, FAES says.
Meet the Real Boss
González Urritia was never more than a place-holder for Corina Machado, a US-backed politician who was the opposition front runner before being barred from holding political office on corruption charges as well as her full-throttled support for US intervention. That support has taken many forms over the years, from backing US-led sanctions against Venezuela’s economy to supporting the Trump administration’s farcical attempt to impose Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, to directly asking foreign governments, including Israel and Argentina, to intervene militarily in the country.
Often referred to by her supporters as “Venezuela’s Iron Lady”, Corina Machado is essentially running the opposition’s operations. On Sunday, she claimed that González Urritia’s departure was necessary to keep him and his family safe from “the increasing threats, summonses, arrest warrants and even the attempts at blackmail and coercion to which he has been subjected…In the face of this brutal reality, it is necessary for our cause to preserve his freedom, his integrity and his life.”
The Maduro government has a very different take on events. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said the Maduro government agreed to grant González the necessary safe passage “for the sake of tranquility and political peace in the country.” González was wanted on a series of criminal charges, including usurpation of functions, conspiracy, public document forgery, sabotage and association to commit crimes, but the Maduro government insists that the case against him will be closed now that he has left the country…
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Nick Corbishley 