Exiled Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González is scheduled to meet with outgoing US President Joe Biden on Monday, Spanish news agency EFE reports. reported.
Mr. Gonzalez is ran away to Spain after the socialist Maduro government issued an arrest warrant against him. recognized As the winner of a fraudulent presidential election on July 28, he was denounced by the United States and several other countries as the winner of a fake election event that claimed both he and socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro had won. .
The 75-year-old former diplomat is currently on a whirlwind tour of Latin American countries and the United States ahead of January 10, 2025, the date both he and Maduro will declare. sworn Became president of Venezuela. González insisted he would return to Caracas for the inauguration, and Maduro's government responded last week with $100,000. bounty against him.
An anonymous official source familiar with González's visit told EFE that the Venezuelan opposition candidate will meet with President Biden on Monday. González plans to meet with Biden ahead of his inauguration on January 10 to continue seeking support, EFE reported. González announced his arrival in Washington on Sunday.
González began his whirlwind tour on Saturday with a visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina. met With President Javier Millay. Millais was an ardent anti-communist. I felt stressed “We need to strengthen regional cooperation in order to build a prosperous Latin America free from the yoke of oppression of dictatorships and socialist regimes of all kinds.”
González continued to tour and briefly visited the following: UruguayThere he met and held talks with outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou. online Before traveling to the United States, he met with Paraguayan President Santiago Peña. Venezuelan opposition candidates reportedly He is scheduled to visit Panama on January 8th to meet with President Jose Raúl Mulino, and then to the Dominican Republic to meet with President Luis Abinader.
The sham presidential election on July 28 has been widely condemned as fraudulent by several countries and international organizations. Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) has declared Maduro the winner of a fraudulent election, but has refused to release voter data that could support the dictator's claimed victory.
Venezuela's opposition contested the election and released a nationwide tally of voters collected on election day that it says shows Mr. González defeated Mr. Maduro in a landslide. Opposition parties have a digital copy of the tally Website.
Neither Mr. González nor Venezuelan opposition members have released details about how Mr. González intends to travel to Caracas to be sworn in as president on January 10, evading an arrest warrant and a $100,000 reward. do not have.
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Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela's National Assembly, said that several former Latin American presidents had expressed their intention to accompany González to Caracas for his inauguration. blackmailed Declare who will accompany opposition candidates on Sunday persona non grata And their presence in the country is an act of “invasion.” Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Colina Machado called on Venezuelans living inside and outside the country to take to the streets on Thursday, January 9, to peacefully protest against the Maduro regime.
González released a video on social media calling on Venezuela's military to overcome the “challenges” facing the country and “defend the sovereignty of the people,” which he said was evidenced by the fake presidential election results presented by the opposition. insisted.
“According to the 1999 Constitution: [late socialist dictator] Hugo Chavez Frias, January 10, By the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, I accept the role of Commander-in-Chief, responsible for protecting my family and guiding efforts toward a future of happiness and prosperity for all Venezuelans. must be accepted. ” Gonzalez said.
The developments in the situation in Venezuela and the upcoming swearing-in of Mr. Maduro and Mr. González indicate that for the second year in a row, Venezuela has had a “dual president,” with each vying for the position of the other. reflects the events surrounding interim president Juan Guaidó's term in office. .
After President Nicolas Maduro held a fraudulent presidential election, 2018Venezuela's National Assembly, then controlled by the opposition, acted in response to what the constitution describes as a “collapse of the democratic order.” Guaidó, then the president of Congress, was sworn in as interim president of Venezuela in January 2019.
The interim presidency was established as a result of Mr. Maduro's illegal usurpation of the position through fraudulent elections, and through the establishment of an interim government and free elections, we will oust Mr. Maduro's unjust usurpation of power and restore democracy in Venezuela. There was a clear intention to recover.
Interim President Guaido had the support of the United States and much of the free world, but he could not exercise any power in Venezuela. Maduro and his socialist regime maintained complete control of the country and its institutions, effectively leaving Guaidó as a symbolic figure.
In the end, Maduro's government expelled the opposition-led National Assembly through further fraudulent elections at the end of 2020, sending many members into exile. After failing to achieve all of their promised goals, the expelled opposition MPs voted to: melt Guaido was sworn in as interim president in December 2022 in an impromptu Zoom call riddled with technology issues, making Maduro's illegal presidency the only uncontested seat of power in Venezuela. Guaido eventually exiled He moved to Miami from Colombia in 2023 and has lived there with his family ever since.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
