Venezuela: Opposition rejects arrest warrant against its standard-bearer González Urrutia

Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), on Monday rejected the arrest warrant issued by a court specializing in terrorism against its standard-bearer in the July 28 presidential election, Edmundo González Urrutia, who is under guard after having denounced fraud in the elections.

Through X, the bloc expressed its “strong condemnation of the deepening of political persecution against” the man who was its presidential candidate, now accused of the crimes of “usurpation of functions,” “forgery of public documents,” “instigation to disobedience of laws,” “conspiracy,” “sabotage to damage systems and association (to commit crimes).”

“Venezuelans and the world look with indignation at a regime that was not able to publish, within the legal time frame, a single document supporting the fraudulent result announced by the (National Electoral Council) CNE, but that is capable of constructing in minutes an arrest warrant against the winner of the presidential election,” said the PUD.

This, he continued, “shows that the regime intends to continue violating the exercise of popular sovereignty expressed on July 28 in favor of a political change in the country.”

The coalition, which claims to have won the presidential election, has called the arrest warrant, which was issued less than an hour after the Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had requested it from the court, invalid.

“Any persecution will find us united, firm and articulated in defense of the overwhelming majority that expressed itself on June 28. To the people of Venezuela and the international community, let us remain firm and articulate in the defense of the expressed will,” the alliance added.

The criminal case is related to the publication of a website on which the PUD claims to have uploaded “83.5% of the electoral records” collected by witnesses and polling station members to reinforce its claim that González Urrutia won the election by a wide margin.

The PUD released these records, which it calls “false,” after the CNE declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the elections, without publishing disaggregated results as established by the regulations, which has been questioned by numerous countries, some of which support González Urrutia winning the Presidency.

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