Venezuela’s Edmundo Gonzalez meets with Biden ahead of clash with Maduro
Opposition leader Edmundo González met with President Biden on Monday at the White House to ask for the United States’ support ahead of his announced plans to travel to Venezuela this week to be sworn as the South American country’s next president, despite the plans of dictator Nicolás Maduro to do the same.
González, who arrived Sunday night in the U.S. after meeting the presidents of Argentina and Uruguay, has repeatedly confirmed that he will be in Venezuela for the Jan. 10 presidential inauguration, despite the regime’s plans to arrest him once he sets foot in the country.
The opposition leader was expected to meet with Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, on Monday afternoon and had plans to travel to other Latin American countries, including Panama and the Dominican Republic, before heading to his home country.
It is not yet known if Gonzalez will be able to meet with president elect Donald Trump or with his nominated secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
Speaking briefly in the White House, González described his meeting with Biden and his team “as long, cordial and fruitful” and said they discussed the relationship of the two countries. While not giving details of the substance of the discussion, he added that the United States continues to fully support the efforts of all Venezuelans to recover its democracy. “That is a commitment we are taking with us”, he said.
González, who is recognized by the U.S. and other democratic nations as the real winner of the presidential election held in Venezuela on July 28th, briefly touched on the plans announced by the Venezuelan opposition for a massive demonstration to be held this week in the country to defend his election victory.
“We are asking [all Venezuelans] to accompany those of us running this fight to recover the Venezuelan democracy,” Gonzalez said. “This is a task of all the political leadership, but also of all Venezuelans that believe in democracy”.
The opposition leader left Venezuela for Spain in September to avoid his imminent arrest. His mentor, top opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, decided to reaming in hiding inside the country.
The opposition has called on all Venezuelans in and outside the country to take to the streets Thursday to defend the election’s results, which it claims Gonzalez won over Maduro by a margin of 67% to 30%.
Those results are accepted by a growing number of countries, despite the regime’s claim that Maduro won 52% of the vote.
On Sunday, Machado called on all Venezuelans to take to the streets to stop Maduro’s plans to steal the election.
“Let us go out, full of confidence. We cannot achieve change by being paralyzed,” she said in a video posted on social media. “Go out to the streets, shout, fight. The time has come to stand firm and make them understand that this is as far as they go, that this is over.”
Machado had previously ceased holding public protests in light of the regime’s fierce repression following the July 28th election that led to the arrest of nearly 2,400 people, among them protesters, opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists.
At least 28 peo;le were killed and 200 others were injured in the midst of the regime’s crackdown. Human rights organizations have reported that the actual number of deaths is much higher, claiming that some of the victims have died while subjected to spine-chilling forms of torture.
The overwhelming majority of Venezuelans, 92% according to some of the latest polls, believe that González was the real winner of the election.
Maduro’s interior minister Diosdado Cabello, who has been accused in the U.S. of being a top leader of the Soles drug cartel, is currently in control of the country’s security apparatus and has issued orders to militarize Caracas ahead of the Jan 10 swearing-in ceremony.
On Monday, Cabello told reporters that González will be arrested immediately if he shows up in Venezuela
“We are waiting for all of them. No one is inviting them.,” he said. “Their presence here is an act of invasion of the country and we are waiting for them as invaders and they will be arrested and placed at the disposal of the Venezuelan justice system.”
McClatchy Washington correspondent Michael Wilner contributed to this story.
