US President Joe Biden has called the exiled candidate for Venezuela’s opposition, Edmundo González, “the true winner” of the country’s presidential election last July after meeting him at the White House.
In a post on social media, Biden said Venezuela deserved a “peaceful transfer of power”.
González fled to Spain in September after turmoil following Venezuela’s election, in which incumbent President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory – something disputed by González and many sections of the international community.
Caracas reacted to the meeting with fury, calling it “grotesque” and accusing Biden of backing a violent anti-democratic project, Reuters news agency reports.
Maduro is due to be re-inaugurated on Friday.
González, currently exiled in Spain, says July’s presidential election was rigged and says he himself actually won it.
The opposition has called for mass protests this week, while the Maduro government offering a $100,000 (£81,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of González.
The voting tallies – a detailed official breakdown of the votes from each polling station – have been at the centre of the dispute over who won the election.
The government-aligned National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner but failed to provide the tallies to back up its claim.
The opposition, which with the help of accredited election witnesses collected and published more than 80% of the voting tallies, says these prove that González was the overwhelming winner.
The UN Human Rights Committee in December ordered Venezuela “to refrain from destroying” the voting tallies from July’s election.
