Venezuela’s opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, has said he was coerced into signing a letter recognizing Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the country’s disputed election as a condition for letting him flee to Spain.
The revelation of the letter is the latest strain to the country’s political crisis, which was exacerbated by the disputed election results and González’s recent departure for exile in Spain.
“I had to either sign it or deal with the consequences,” Gonzalez wrote on X, citing “very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure”.
He said Maduro allies brought him the document when he was in the Spanish embassy in Caracas before fleeing to Spain to request asylum, following the 28 July presidential election that the opposition insists he won.
“At that point I considered I could be of more use free than if I were imprisoned and prevented from fulfilling the tasks entrusted to me” by voters, he said.
The document states it was meant to be confidential, but Jorge Rodríguez, head of the national assembly and Maduro’s chief negotiator, presented it during a nationally televised press conference hours after a local news outlet published parts of it.
Rodríguez told reporters González signed the letter of his own volition. González, however, in a video posted on social media said he signed it under coercion.
“They showed up with a document that I would have to sign to allow my departure from the country,” González said.
Rodríguez, questioned about González’s video message, threatened to reveal audio of his conversations with González if he did not take back his assertions.
Venezuela’s national electoral council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.
But the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines and posted them online. González and opposition leader María Corina Machado said the voting records showed the former diplomat won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
González became the subject of an arrest warrant over an investigation into the publishing of the tally sheets.
Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s supreme tribunal of justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling party, to audit the results. The high court reaffirmed his victory.
Venezuela’s next presidential term begins on 10 January and lasts six years.
