The winner of the Venezuelan election left
Once again, Maduro has won the game. Edmundo González, the opposition candidate in Venezuela and the winner of the country’s election, left for Spain while facing the threat of arrest and imprisonment. He coordinated with the Spanish government to receive asylum and departed Caracas on a Spanish military plane. González joins his daughter and grandchildren who reside in Spain. The continuous public protests following the widespread electoral acceptance of Maduro did not yield significant results. The opposition and their leader, María Machado, with strong documents and information they possessed and quickly disseminated, led many countries to conclude that Maduro had in fact reversed the election results and committed something beyond fraud. The released documents of the ballot box results were so convincing that some South American countries, which had a relative sympathy with Maduro and the ruling Venezuelan regime, withdrew their support. Venezuela’s relations with many South American countries have been severed, and on the day of González’s departure, Maduro ended the last ties with Argentina and terminated Brazil’s diplomatic representation in Caracas. In these circumstances and with Venezuela’s maximum isolation, the country is at its highest level of dependency on aid from China and Russia, and it is unlikely to break free from this deadlock. The fate and future plans of the country’s opposition also remain uncertain given the ruthless suppression by the ruling government.