Venezuela's election winner returns to South America to hand over the office

Venezuela's election winner returns to South America to hand over the office

The former presidential candidate of Venezuela, Edmundo González Urrutia, returns to South America this week to face the government of Nicolás Maduro, which has been in office since 2013. This return takes place before the incumbent president in Caracas and shows a clear attitude against the current regime.

first meeting in Buenos Aires

González’s first stop is a meeting with the right -wing President of Argentina, Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires on Saturday. Milei spoke out loudly against the Venezuelan regime and described Maduro as a "criminal" after Venezuela had shown the diplomats of Argentina after the controversial elections that were overshadowed by allegations of elections.

international tour and return to Venezuela

The meeting with Milei marks the beginning of González ’“ International Tour ”, as it says in a message from his press team. However, no further details on the next stations of his trip have been announced. He has already promised to return to Venezuela to take over the official business of his own government.

background to escape and elections

The former diplomat fled from Venezuela in September of last year and was looking for asylum in Spain, after an arrest warrant from the Venezuelan public prosecutor's office was adopted against him, as part of an offensive against the Opposition movement in the country. The arrest warrant fell in a time of intensive political tensions, in which the National Election Council of Venezuela (Cne), a body that is mainly occupied by familiar Maduro, declared the long -time ruler as the winner of the elections of July 28th - but without disclosing the election results.

doubts about the election results

The official results came to considerable doubts internationally, since the opposition claimed that it had won the election and published tens of thousands of voices that she had collected from all over the country and that, in her opinion, prove that González had won with a clear lead.

recognition by international actors

The United States and Argentina are among the countries that González recognized as the rightful president of Venezuela. Maduro, on the other hand, has always rejected the allegations of a stolen election and explains that he will start a new term on January 10th.

risks of a return

For González, a return to Venezuela would be associated with considerable risks. On Thursday, the Venezuelan Science, Criminal and Investigation Office (CICPC) offered a reward of $ 100,000 for information that leads to its arrest. According to the CICPC, González is sought for several crimes, including conspiracy, aid for violent clocks against the Republic, presumption of office, forgery of documents, money laundering and several other offenses.

cnn en Español turned to González’s team to get a comment.