Venezuelan opposition candidate claims son-in-law kidnapped | News about Nicolas Maduro
Edmundo Gonzalez, who ran against incumbent President Nicolas Maduro in July’s presidential election, says masked men kidnapped his son-in-law in Caracas.
Edmundo Gonzalezthe leader of the Venezuelan political opposition, accused masked men of kidnapping his son-in-law, of whom no trace has been lost.
Gonzalez, who was running in the country’s presidential election in July, announced the news on social media on Tuesday.
“This morning my son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped,” Gonzalez wrote.
“Rafael went to my grandchildren’s school, aged 7 and 6, in Caracas, to drop them off for the start of class, and he was intercepted by hooded men dressed in black, who put him in a gold-colored pick-up truck with license plate number AA54E2C and drove him away. He is gone at the moment.”
Gonzalez himself is currently facing an arrest warrant in Venezuela, where he has claimed to be the real winner of the July 28 presidential contest.
This brought him into conflict with current President Nicolas Maduro, who claimed the same win. Maduro is scheduled to be sworn in for a third term on Friday.
The opposition and other critics of Maduro’s government protested the election and the official results, which they say were not transparent and fair.
Pre-election polls appear to have Maduro trailing Gonzalez well behind. But shortly after the polls closed, the country’s electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, without releasing the usual analysis of the vote results.
Venezuela’s opposition claimed polling station-level tallies showed Gonzalez beating Maduro by a two-to-one margin, and posted what appeared to be official tabulations online.
This raised doubts about the legitimacy of his victory, and protesters flooded the streets in cities such as Caracas after the vote.
The government, on the other hand, is accused of leading a violent suppression of protesters and political opponents after the elections.
About 2,000 people were initially arrested and 23 killed, although Maduro’s government recently said that released 1,515 detainees. His administration has long faced accusations of political repression and human rights abuses, including torture and arbitrary detention.
In September, Venezuelan government prosecutors charged Gonzalez with conspiracy, usurpation of authority and forgery, and the court issued warrant for his arrest.
The opposition leader fled the country and went into exile in Spain. But he promised to return to Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government has repeatedly said that Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns.
Maduro and his allies claim that Gonzalez and other members of the opposition worked with hostile foreign powers to destabilize the country.
In early January, Gonzalez left Spain to rally support on a tour across the Americas and put pressure on Maduro’s government.
He has already visited Argentina and Uruguay, and on Monday he met with US President Joe Biden, whose government recognized Gonzalez as the legitimate president elected in November.
While regional leaders expressed skepticism about Maduro’s claims of victory and condemned crushing on the protesters, it remains unclear what leverage can be used in Gonzalez’s favor.
