Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia has left the country and sought asylum in Spain, following a disputed presidential election that has plunged the crisis-stricken South American nation into further political turmoil.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed on September 7 that González had flown to Madrid on a Spanish air force plane. "Spain's doors to a sister country like Venezuela will always be open, just as the doors of the Spanish embassy residence have been to Edmundo González," Albares stated.

Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez said González had left after "voluntarily seeking refuge in the Spanish embassy in Caracas". The Maduro government reportedly granted him safe passage out of the country, as Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry stated that “This conduct reaffirms the respect for the law that has prevailed in the actions of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the international community.”

The 75-year-old former diplomat emerged as a surprise candidate in the July 28 election after popular opposition figure María Corina Machado was barred from running by a Maduro-aligned court on charges many see as spurious. While the government-controlled electoral authority (CNE) declared incumbent President Nicolás Maduro the winner, the opposition claims González secured a landslide victory with 67% of the vote based on their own tally of voting receipts. For its part, the CNE has refused to release detailed voting records to back up the official results.

The contested outcome has sparked international controversy, with many Western and regional democracies refusing to recognise Maduro's claimed victory. Only authoritarian countries such as Russia, Cuba, North Korea and China have congratulated the incumbent on his self-declared win. Protests following the election resulted in at least 27 deaths, and authorities have reportedly arrested around 2,400 people, mostly charged with terrorism.

“The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, commenting on a damning report released last week. “Concerned governments need to take urgent steps to ensure that people are able to peacefully protest and that their vote is respected.”

Venezuelan prosecutors recently issued an arrest warrant for González, accusing him of various offences including terrorism and falsifying documents in connection with the publication of opposition vote tallies. But unlike Machado, who showed up at a few rallies over the last month despite facing similar arrest threats, Gonzalez had been in hiding since July 28, deifying multiple summons to appear before prosecutors for fears of being detained.

The political crisis has strained Venezuela's diplomatic relations in the region, alienating once-friendly leftist countries such as Brazil and Colombia. In a related development, the government on September 7 revoked Brazil's authority over the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where several opposition activists have sought refuge. Venezuela accused the embassy of being used to plan assassination attempts against government officials, a claim that Brazil and Argentina have strongly contested. Both countries have condemned the move and called on Caracas to respect the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

As Venezuela grapples with economic collapse and mass emigration after over a decade of disastrous Maduro rule, González's departure underscores the precarious situation faced by opposition figures in the country. Analysts suggest his impromptu decision to leave may have been influenced by concerns that even diplomatic residences could no longer be considered safe havens amid growing repression from the regime.