Wanted Venezuelan candidate says opposition facing 'persecution' / Photo: © AFP/File
Wanted Venezuelan candidate says opposition facing 'persecution'
Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, threatened with arrest for insisting he was the rightful winner of July presidential elections, urged prosecutors Wednesday not to partake in what he called political persecution.
Gonzalez Urrutia is the target of an arrest warrant issued Monday over the opposition's insistence that incumbent President Nicolas Maduro stole the July 28 vote.
The opposition released a breakdown of polling station-level results which it says show Gonzalez Urrutia won by a landslide.
Venezuela's electoral authority announced a win for Maduro within hours of polls closing but failed to provide detailed results, claiming a cyber attack on its systems.
The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro's claimed victory without seeing detailed voting results.
Tensions between the US and Venezuela rose sharply this week after Washington seized a private aircraft used by Maduro in the Dominican Republic and flew it to Florida, citing sanctions violations.
The standoff continued Wednesday, with a US official reporting that a US Navy sailor had been detained by Venezuelan authorities.
Within Venezuela, the election sparked the worst unrest in years, sparking mass opposition protests that were brutally repressed, leaving 25 civilians and two soldiers dead, according to authorities.
Nearly 200 people were injured and more than 2,400 arrested.
- 'Terrorism' charges -
The opposition's unilateral publishing of election results is at the root of the charges against Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, including "usurpation" of public functions, "forgery" of a public document, incitement to disobedience, sabotage, and "association" with organized crime and funders of "terrorism."
Gonzalez Urrutia has been in hiding for a month, and Haro explained he had ignored three successive summonses to appear before prosecutors because he was in a position of "defenselessness."
Opponents and observers say Venezuela's justice system is in cahoots with Maduro.
The president has said Gonzalez Urrutia belongs behind bars along with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado -- who Gonzalez Urrutia, a retired diplomat, replaced on the ballot at the last minute after she was barred from running.
Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Gustavo Petro of Colombia were scheduled to meet Maduro for talks on the crisis, probably later Wednesday, according to Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.
Mexico's Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador may also take part.
On Tuesday, Brazil and Colombia -- leftist allies housing millions of Venezuelan refugees -- had expressed "deep concern" about the arrest warrant.
Human Rights Watch in a report issued Tuesday accused Venezuelan authorities of committing "widespread human rights violations" against protesters, bystanders and opponents in the aftermath of the disputed vote.
S.Mitchell--TNT
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