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The son-in-law of exiled Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez has been kidnapped.<\/p>\n
“Rafael was on his way to my seven and six-year-old grandchildren’s school in Caracas to drop them off at the start of class when he was abducted by masked men dressed in black,” Gonz\u00e1lez posted on X on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He said that they had taken him away in a gold-coloured van.<\/p>\n
After the presidential election in Venezuela last July, Gonz\u00e1lez claimed victory.<\/p>\n
The US and several Latin American countries recognize him as the winner but the election authority, which is loyal to the government, declared authoritarian incumbent Nicol\u00e1s Maduro as the victor.<\/p>\n
Maduro, in power for almost 12 years, is due to be sworn in for a further term of office on Friday.<\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez travelled to Spain at the beginning of September and applied for political asylum there.<\/p>\n
The 75-year-old had announced that he would return home and be sworn in himself on Friday, but decided to stay away with an arrest warrant issued for him.<\/p>\n
If he enters the country, Gonz\u00e1lez will be arrested and tried on charges of sabotage, conspiracy and usurpation of office, according to Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.<\/p>\n
Protests by opposition supporters have been violently suppressed by the Venezuelan state in the past.<\/p>\n
According to the non-governmental organization Foro Penal, there were almost 1,800 political prisoners by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n