(Buenos Aires) The Venezuelan opponent in exile Edmundo González Urrutia met on Saturday with Argentine President Javier Milei and announced that he would have an interview with Joe Biden in the United States, where he will be on Sunday, a few days before the inauguration in Caracas of Nicolas Maduro, whom he claims to have beaten in the July election.
Posted at 11:52 a.m.
“We have planned a conversation with President Biden and we are waiting for details regarding the new authorities” American, declared Mr. González Urrutia during a press conference in Buenos Aires, referring to Donald Trump who will take office on January 20.
It is not known when the interview with the outgoing US president will take place.
Edmundo González Urrutia, a 75-year-old ex-diplomat, who, after Argentina, will go to Uruguay, also plans to visit Panama on Wednesday, then the Dominican Republic the next day.
Buenos Aires and Montevideo do not recognize Nicolas Maduro’s presidential victory, like the United States, the European Union and other Latin American countries.
“Argentina will not be complicit in silence in the face of the injustices and abuses of the Maduro regime,” assured Javier Milei in this regard, in a press release released on Saturday.
“Freedom, freedom! »
The same day, hundreds of Venezuelans gathered in the famous Plaza de Mayo, opposite Casa Rosada, the Argentine presidential palace. From a balcony, the opponent, alongside Mr. Milei, greeted the crowd who cheered him.
“One of the most moving moments I have experienced! Venezuelans, we will find ourselves in the streets of our beloved country,” he commented on the X network.
Waving flags, participants in this rally chanted “Liberty, freedom!” “.
Luis Soto, a 27-year-old Venezuelan student who emigrated to Argentina more than six years ago, held a sign that read: “Do the right thing, president.”
“Because these will be complicated days to emerge from the tyranny that we have,” the young man explained to AFP. “These won’t be easy decisions but whether he does the right thing, we trust him.”
Edmundo González Urrutia, to whom Spain officially granted asylum on December 20, repeated to the press that he would return to Venezuela “simply to take full possession” on January 10, in place of Nicolas Maduro , of the “mandate that the Venezuelans gave (to me).
“We hope that (the current Venezuelan president) will contribute to a peaceful and orderly transition,” he added.
On Saturday afternoon, Mr. González Urrutia was to leave for Montevideo to see Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou.
Fortes tensions
Mr. González Urrutia’s trip to Argentina took place at a time when Venezuelan authorities are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture and when tensions between Caracas and Buenos Aires have increased following the arrest in Venezuela of an Argentine gendarme.
Diplomatic relations between these two countries were severed by Venezuelan authorities after Javier Milei questioned the re-election of Nicolas Maduro.
They have deteriorated further in recent weeks, with Venezuela detaining an Argentine gendarme whom it accuses of “terrorism”, which Buenos Aires describes as a “lie”.
On Friday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) demanded that Caracas provide information on the whereabouts of this man, Nahuel Gallo, arrested on December 8.
“His rights to life and personal integrity risk suffering irreparable harm in Venezuela,” said this body of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The OAS “condemns the arbitrary detention (of the gendarme) by the Venezuelan regime,” declared its secretary general, Luis Almagro.
On Thursday, Argentina said it had filed a complaint against Venezuela before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the “arbitrary detention and forced disappearance” of this 33-year-old gendarme.
Nicolas Maduro was proclaimed winner of the July 28 presidential election by the National Electoral Council – considered to be under the orders of those in power – while the Venezuelan opposition is crying fraud.
Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, who had presented himself at short notice to replace María Corina Machado, declared ineligible, found refuge in Spain in September while the leader of the opposition has been living in hiding in Venezuela since the election.
