Caracas, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 28th Aug, 2024) Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on Tuesday ignored a second summons to appear before prosecutors as part of a probe into his claim that he was the rightful victor of last month’s presidential election.
As tensions persisted over the widely questioned reelection of President Nicolas Maduro, the strongman carried out a cabinet reshuffle, naming new interior and oil ministers.
Maduro, 61, was declared the winner of the July 28 election, but the opposition cried foul, publishing its own voting records appearing to show a convincing win for Gonzalez Urrutia.
The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro as having won without seeing detailed voting results.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has declined to publish its records, claiming hackers had corrupted the data.
Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, who went into hiding shortly after the election, was summoned to appear before prosecutors as part of an investigation into alleged crimes such as “usurpation of functions” and “forgery of public documents.”
He ignored a first summons on Monday, and again failed to show after a second notice was issued for Tuesday.
The Unitary Platform opposition coalition denounced the “judicial harassment” of its candidate who it said won the vote “by an overwhelming majority.”
“The repeated summons… constitute a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression”, the coalition wrote on the X social network, adding it now feared an arrest warrant against Gonzalez Urrutia.
– Cabinet reshuffle –
The little-known retired diplomat became the last-minute presidential candidate after main opposition figure Maria Corina Machado was banned from running in the election and threw her weight behind him.
“Whoever attacks the institutions, whoever attacks our people must assume their responsibility. Enough is enough,” said Diosdado Cabello, number two in the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
He said the “organs of the judicial system” must “make the necessary decisions” regarding Gonzalez Urrutia.
Cabello, a hardline Maduro ally, was on Tuesday named interior minister in the cabinet reshuffle.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was named oil minister in the country with the largest reserves in the world.
Gonzalez Urrutia last appeared in public at a protest two days after the election.
Maduro has said both he and Machado belonged “behind bars.”
The announcement of Maduro’s reelection sparked protests that left 27 dead and nearly 200 injured, while some 2,400 people were arrested, according to authorities.
Both the government and Machado have called on supporters to turn out for rival demonstrations on Wednesday.
“One month after our glorious victory, in which Edmundo Gonzalez was elected President, Venezuelans (must) again take to the streets,” she wrote on X.
Observers say what happens next may depend on whether the international community can exert sufficient pressure on Maduro — who managed to cling to power despite sanctions that followed his 2018 reelection which was also dismissed as a sham by dozens of countries.
Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro has presided over an economic collapse that has seen more than seven million Venezuelans flee the country, as GDP plunged 80 percent in a decade.
Experts blame international sanctions and domestic economic mismanagement.
