Thursday was marked by mass marches and a puzzling high-profile kidnapping in Venezuela, the same day Canada recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urruti as the country’s legitimate president.
Gonzalez is in exile in Spain, while Venezuela’s de facto ruler Nicolas Maduro continues to occupy the Miraflores presidential palace, claiming his party won the election on July 28 last year.
On Monday, Gonzalez met with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, in the Oval Office. After that meeting, Biden announced on social media that Gonzalez was the “real winner” of last year’s election and that the country deserves a peaceful transfer of power.
The next day, Gonzalez announced that his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, had been kidnapped by hooded men while taking his two young children to school.
It was one of what appeared to be a new wave of arrests as the Venezuelan opposition re-intensified its campaign to oust Maduro’s authoritarian socialist government.
The leader comes out of hiding
Presidential candidate Gonzalez, who traveled to the Dominican Republic today seeking further international support, is not the leader of the Venezuelan opposition. Rather, he is a stand-in candidate for the real leader, Maria Corina Machado, who has been barred from running for office by the Maduro government’s courts.
On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly spoke with Machado by phone. Soon after, she tweeted a statement which formally recognized Gonzalez as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Canada has previously expressed disbelief at the official results of last summer’s election announced by Maduro’s government, but has yet to take a step to recognize Maduro’s rival as the winner.
Gonzalez went into exile shortly after Maduro’s regime responded to the election with a wave of arrests and repression, but Machado remained in the country and spent much of the past six months in hiding.
Confused daylight abduction
Machado hinted on Wednesday that she would return to the public eye, as the opposition prepared a new campaign of street protests to demand respect for the election results. The opposition had planned to protest against Maduro’s swearing-in for a third six-year presidential term, which was due to take place on Friday at the National Assembly in Caracas.
In recent days, Maduro has engaged in demonstrations of force apparently with the intention of discouraging opposition protests.
Today, Machado came out of hiding lead a large gathering in the Chacao neighborhood of Caracas, but she appeared to be detained by men on motorcycles as she left the scene.
Machado is often surrounded by dozens or even hundreds of supporters on motorcycles to protect her from government kidnap squads, but on this occasion the opposition said they were unable to protect her and one of her motorcycle companions was injured after the shooting.
The detention has sparked outrage from the Venezuelan opposition and its supporters around the world, including Anaida Poilievrewife of the leader of Canada’s official opposition.
Released from custody
Within two hours of detention, a video on social networks he showed up to show Machado saying she was released and safe.
But the video was not published on Machado’s own account, nor on other opposition channels, and some expressed doubts about its authenticity.
By late afternoon, Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, released a statement confirming her release.
They took her away by force, the statement said. “During the period of the abduction, she was forced to record several videos and then released. In the coming hours, she will address the country and explain the situation.”
There has been some speculation in opposition circles that the kidnapping and quick release may reflect divisions between hardliners and moderates within the Chavista government over how to deal with Machado and the protests.
