Maduro rival says letter conceding election was coerced
CARACAS—Venezuela’s opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia said Wednesday he had been coerced into signing a letter distributed by Venezuelan authorities in which he supposedly conceded election defeat to strongman President Nicolas Maduro.
In the letter, dated Sept. 7 and addressed to parliamentary leader Jorge Rodriguez, Gonzalez Urrutia said “I respect” the regime-aligned CNE electoral council’s proclamation of Maduro as the winner of the July 28 vote.
But on Wednesday, the 75-year-old retired diplomat published a message on X from Madrid, where he was given asylum after weeks in hiding in Venezuela, saying he was made to sign the letter in exchange for being allowed to leave.
Maduro aides brought him the letter at the Spanish embassy in Caracas and “I had to either sign it or deal with the consequences.”
The letter, he said, was worthless as it was tainted by “coercion.”
Within hours of polls closing, the CNE declared Maduro the victor with 52 percent of votes cast.
