Thursday was marked by massive demonstrations and a chaotic and highly publicized kidnapping in Venezuela, the same day Canada recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the country’s legitimate president.
González is in exile in Spain, but Venezuela’s de facto ruler Nicolas Maduro continues to occupy the Miraflores presidential palace, claiming his party won the July 28 vote last year.
On Monday, Gonzalez met with U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. After the meeting, Biden posted on social media that Gonzalez was the “true winner” of last year’s election and that the country deserved a peaceful transfer of power.
The next day, Gonzalez announced that his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, was abducted by hooded men while he was taking his two young children to school.
It was one of what appeared to be a new wave of arrests as Venezuela’s opposition re-intensified its campaign to remove President Maduro’s authoritarian socialist government from power.
A leader emerges from hiding
Presidential candidate Gonzalez, who visited the Dominican Republic today to seek more international support, is not the leader of Venezuela’s opposition. Rather, he is an alternative candidate to the real leader, María Colina Machado, who has been barred from running by the Maduro regime’s courts.
On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly spoke by phone with Mr. Machado. Shortly after, she tweeted: statement Officially recognized González as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Canada had previously expressed disbelief in the official results of last summer’s general election announced by Maduro’s government, but had not yet taken the step of recognizing Maduro’s rival as the winner.
Mr. Gonzalez went into exile shortly after Maduro’s government responded to the election with a series of arrests and crackdowns, but Mr. Machado remained in the country, spending much of the past six months in hiding.
chaotic daytime kidnapping
On Wednesday, Machado hinted at a return to public life as opposition groups prepared for fresh street protests demanding respect for the election results. Opposition parties had planned to protest Maduro’s swearing-in as president for a third six-year term in Caracas on Friday.
In recent days, President Maduro has been working on: show of force The aim was clearly to stop opposition protests.
Today, Machado has come out of hiding. headline a large gathering He was in the Caracas area of Chacao, but appears to have been detained by men on motorcycles as he left the scene.
Machado is often surrounded by dozens or even hundreds of supporters on motorbikes to protect him from government snatching squads; He said one of the motorcycle escorts was injured after being shot.
The detention sparked outrage among people around the world, including Venezuelan rebels and their supporters. Anaida PoyableWife of Canadian government opposition leader.
be released from detention
Within two hours of her detention, videos on social media It appeared that Machado was released and said he was safe.
However, the video was not posted by Machado’s own account or any other rebel channel, and some expressed doubts about its authenticity.
By late afternoon, Machado’s party Vente Venezuela made an announcement. statement confirmed her release.
“They took her away by force,” the statement said. “During the kidnapping period, she was forced to film several videos, but has since been released. She is expected to address the nation in the next few hours and explain the situation.”
There was some speculation among opposition groups that the abduction and swift release reflected divisions between hardliners and moderates within the Chavista government over Machado and its handling of the protests. Ta.
