The former mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma, a member of the team of the opposition leader María Corina Machado, has assured that neither she nor the electoral candidate Edmundo González are considering taking refuge in an Embassy, since they want to continue “setting an example of resistance in the front line”, even if they can remain “safe” from the Chavista attacks.
Requesting asylum in an Embassy “is not an option”, Ledezma clarified, hours after the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, called on the diplomatic missions of other countries, “especially Spain”, to open their doors to González Urrutia in an interview with ‘Antena 3’.
The former mayor of the Venezuelan capital understands that this is an approach “in very good faith” on the part of Ayuso, given that the Madrid leader has already expressed on other occasions her “repeated concern” about the Venezuelan situation, but has pointed out in statements to Europa Press that both Machado and Ledezma want to remain “safe” within the “national territory”.
In this sense, he has said that they remain “firm” in this idea, despite the “hunt” and “political persecution” that has been undertaken against dissidents in Venezuela, especially following the presidential elections of July 28. “The alternative is to remain at the forefront of the fight,” he added.
The Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office has opened a formal investigation into Machado and González and has summoned the latter on up to three occasions, under the threat of ordering his arrest. The Chavista authorities justify the persecution of the candidate by publishing documents on the Internet that would prove the opposition’s victory over President Nicolás Maduro.
