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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who the United States recognized as the winner of last year’s presidential election, kicked off a tour of Latin America on Saturday, just days before President Nicolas Maduro is set to be sworn in for a third term in defiance of international pressure.
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A crowd of a few hundred Venezuelan migrants broke into shouts of “Edmundo, Presidente” as Gonzalez emerged from a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei to wave to supporters from the balcony of the iconic Casa Rosada, or Pink House, in Buenos Aires.
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“We are doing whatever the cause of freedom requires,” Milei, an effusive far-right supporter of the Venezuelan opposition, said as he welcomed Gonzalez to the presidential palace with honors normally reserved for a head of state.
Gonzalez, a retired diplomat, fled into exile in Spain in September after a judge issued an arrest warrant following the July 28 presidential election, in which Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council, which is stacked with governing party loyalists.
In recent weeks, he has been vowing to travel to Venezuela to be sworn in for the presidential term, which according to law must begin on Jan. 10. But he hasn’t said how he plans to return or wrest power from Maduro, whose party controls all institutions and the military.
On Thursday, Maduro’s government raised the stakes even further, announcing a $100,000 reward for information on Gonzalez’s whereabouts and plastering the wanted-like bulletin with the retired diplomat’s photo on social media and the arrivals board at the country’s main airport.
Upon arrival to the Argentine capital, where he twice served as Venezuela’s ambassador more than two decades ago, Gonzalez posted on social media a short video message expressing solidarity with those imprisoned in Venezuela as part of a crackdown by Maduro.
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He said that he would raise with Milei concerns about the well-being of five Maduro opponents who have been sheltering in the Argentine ambassador’s residence in Caracas for nearly 10 months — a diplomatic standoff that has embittered relations between Venezuela and Argentina.
The Biden administration and most European governments have rejected the election’s official results, pointing out that authorities didn’t provide detailed results as they have in past elections. Meanwhile, copies of tally sheets collected by the opposition from 85% of the nation’s electronic voting machines show that Gonzalez prevailed by a more than two-to-one margin.
Gonzalez, 75, was a previously unknown career diplomat when he was thrust into rallying the anti-Maduro coalition as a last-minute stand-in for opposition stalwart Maria Corina Machado, whom the government banned from running for office.
After speaking with Milei on Saturday, Gonzalez is scheduled to cross the Rio de la Plata for a meeting with Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou.
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