Spain is said to have helped Venezuela force an opposition leader into exile

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Spain has been heavily criticized for allegedly facilitating the exile of Venezuela's main opposition presidential candidate, who was pressured under Spanish diplomatic protection to sign a document recognizing the victory of President Nicolás Maduro.

Edmundo González, a former Venezuelan diplomat who the opposition says won elections in July, left Caracas on September 7 to seek political asylum in Spain after spending weeks in hiding to avoid arrest. His departure was a major blow to the opposition, which had vowed to install González as president when Maduro's term ends in January.

Maduro has launched a sweeping crackdown on the opposition since the election in which he claimed he won a third term, a result recognized by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea but not by the West. The opposition has produced copies of about 80 percent of the official ballots to prove that González defeated Maduro decisively, and the U.S. supports that claim.

González, 75, who has health problems, said this week he was forced to sign a letter recognizing Maduro's victory as a condition for his departure from Venezuela.

Maduro's government later reportedly released photos showing González signing the document at the Spanish embassy in Caracas during a meeting with Maduro's main political fixer, Jorge Rodríguez, and his sister, Delcy, the vice president. The Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Ramón Santos, was also present.

In the wake of the affair, Spain's conservative opposition leader Alberto Nuñez Feijóo called for the resignation of Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and the ambassador, arguing that Spanish diplomacy “cannot be at the service of a dictatorial regime”.

A senior Brazilian government official told the Financial Times that the Rodríguez siblings visited the residence to put pressure on González, which “should never have been allowed.”

“Maduro urged [González] “They were driven out of the country through intimidation and … the Spanish state was the main facilitator,” the official said. “They must explain what they did and be held accountable.”

The Spanish government denies the allegations that it was involved in González's expulsion. It insists that it was concerned about the opposition leader's safety and responded to his asylum request.

González had found safe shelter in the Dutch embassy residence for almost five weeks after the election, but was only visited by the Rodríguez duo after he moved to the Spanish residence.

González became depressed when he realized about three weeks after the election that the Maduro government would not collapse and that he would have to either remain in Venezuela indefinitely under diplomatic protection or seek asylum abroad, according to a person close to the opposition.

Around that time, he spoke with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a former Spanish prime minister and socialist close to the Maduro government who played a key role in negotiating the deal that led to González's resignation, the person told the FT.

The Brazilian official said he understood that Zapatero had discussed the plan to exile González to Spain with the Rodríguez couple “and helped to implement it.” Zapatero could not be reached for comment.

González was taken to the Spanish embassy residence on September 5, under the assumption that he would be granted asylum in Spain, with the final details to be clarified with the ambassador. In fact, two days of negotiations followed, during which the Rodríguez couple appeared in person and brought a document for González to sign.

Albares told reporters in Brussels on Thursday that his government had not invited anyone to visit González at the ambassador's residence and “had not participated in any negotiation on any document.” The ambassador was present at the talks and can be seen in the photos because the residence has only one reception room, he added.

Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America expert at Chatham House, said signing under such circumstances “violates the concept of diplomatic asylum and makes the Spanish government an accomplice to electoral fraud and repression by the Maduro government.”

In a statement on Thursday aimed at calming the waters, González thanked Spain for its support and said: “I was not forced to do this by the Spanish government or by the Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Ramón Santos.” A Venezuelan opposition source in contact with González said he made the statement at an urgent request from Albares.

The Venezuelan government has tried to use González's departure as a propaganda coup, portraying him as weak and cowardly. Jorge Rodríguez showed a copy of the González document at a press conference on Thursday and called it “nothing other than a capitulation.”

Rodríguez mocked González's claim that he signed under duress and played excerpts from an audio recording that he said showed a convivial atmosphere with whiskey-soaked discussions. González said the meeting was photographed and recorded without his permission.

“They came with a document that I had to sign to be allowed to leave the country,” said González. “In other words, I either signed or I would face consequences. It was a very tense few hours full of coercion, blackmail and pressure.”

Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Washington-based think tank CSIS, said: “The available evidence appears to suggest that Spain played a role in facilitating the regime-enforced exile of Edmundo González – a severe blow to Venezuelans who hoped for and voted for change.”