Exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez claimed on Wednesday, Sept. 18, that he was forced to sign a letter accepting Venezuela’s top court’s decision to recognize President Nicolás Maduro’s victory in the presidential election earlier this year. He was then granted asylum in Spain earlier this month.
In a video posted on Instagram, Gonzalez said, “Either I signed, or I faced the consequences.”
Gonzalez said he met Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and her brother Jorge Rodriguez, president of the National Assembly, at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas. The two reportedly forced him to sign the letter.
He alleges there were “tense hours” of “coercion, blackmail, and pressure,” and he ultimately decided that he would be more useful in freedom than behind bars. He alleges the document is worthless because of a “serious lack of consent.”
Following Gonzalez’ video, Jorge Rodriguez showed the signed letter on national television, claiming Gonzalez signed it willingly and arguing if it were coerced, “How is it that one of your daughters still lives in Venezuela, peacefully, with her family, as regular Venezuelans?”
Gonzalez maintained he won the election in the video, calling himself the “president-elect of millions and millions of Venezuelans,” adding, “They are not going to silence me. I will not betray them.”
The July 28 presidential election led to mass protests after allegations of fraud against Maduro’s regime. The opposition published vote tallies that allegedly showed Gonzalez had won. This week, the United Nations reported Maduro’s government is increasingly trying to crush peaceful protests and cling to power in the wake of the contested election.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant is still out for Gonzalez in Venezuela, issued by the Maduro regime.
