In Venezuela, opposition candidate asks Maduro to 'step aside'

Photo: Ariana Cubillos Associated Press Mariana Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia are living in hiding even though the public prosecutor's office has opened a criminal investigation against them.

Agence France-Presse in Caracas

Published yesterday at 10:50 p.m.

• Americas

Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who is claiming victory in the July 28 presidential election, said Monday that he was “ready for dialogue” with a view to a “transition,” asking President Nicolás Maduro to “step aside.”

“Mr. Nicolás Maduro, respect what all Venezuelans have decided […] You and your government must step aside […] I am ready for dialogue,” Gonzalez Urrutia, a discreet diplomat who replaced opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was declared ineligible, as a candidate, declared on social media.

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“Every day that you obstruct the democratic transition, Venezuelans suffer from a country in crisis and without freedom. Clinging to power only exacerbates the suffering of our people. Our time has come,” said Gonzalez Urrutia, who has not been seen publicly since the beginning of the month.

Machado, who appeared at an opposition rally on Saturday, and Gonzalez Urrutia are living in hiding as prosecutors open criminal investigations against them, including charges of “inciting disobedience to the law, inciting insurrection, criminal conspiracy.” Attorney General Tarek William Saab threatened to indict them on Monday.

The announcement of Mr. Maduro’s re-election for a third term sparked spontaneous protests that were brutally repressed. According to official sources, 25 people died, 192 were injured and 2,400 arrested.

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The National Electoral Council ratified Mr. Maduro's victory with 52% of the vote in early August, without providing the exact count or the minutes of the polling stations, claiming to have been the victim of computer hacking.

The opposition and many observers question the reality of this hacking.

According to the opposition, which released election documents obtained through its poll workers, Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia won more than 60% of the vote.

Mr. Maduro, for his part, has repeatedly said that he is facing an attempted “coup d’état,” and on Sunday told his supporters: “They will never be able to defeat us, because we carry within us the strength of history, the strength of the homeland, the strength of God. We have won.”