World

Venezuela opp leader pressured to recognise Maduro win

Sep 20, 2024

Rio de Janeiro [Brazil], September 20: Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez said he was put under pressure to sign a document recognising the electoral victory of President Nicolas Maduro, in a post on X.
Gonzalez is currently in Spain and said his signature was a condition imposed by Maduro's government for letting him travel to Spain, in Wednesday's post.
His statement came after the president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, presented the signed document on Wednesday, in which Gonzalez purportedly acknowledged "the decisions made by the judicial organs within the framework of the constitution."
Gonzalez asserted that he accepted these terms under duress at the Spanish embassy in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.
"There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure," he said. The Venezuelan opposition says Gonzalez, its candidate, won July's contested presidential election which installed authoritarian Maduro for another six-year term.
The US and several Latin American countries recognize Gonzalez as the winner of the election and the European Union also questions the official result. Gonzalez travelled to Spain on September 8 and applied for political asylum.
Previously, a warrant for his arrest had been issued in Venezuela on charges including sabotage, conspiracy and usurpation of functions.
He said at that moment, he thinks he would be more useful as a free man to fulfil "the tasks entrusted to him."
"A document that has been signed under coercion is absolutely null and void due to a serious error in consent," he said.
After the election on July 28, the loyalist electoral authority declared Maduro, who has been in power for 11 years, as the winner but did not publish the detailed results. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune

More news

Hexaware and Abluva Join Forces to Deliver Secure Agentic AI Solutions for the Life Sciences Industry

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]/ Iselin (New Jersey) [US], July 10: Hexaware Technologies, a global provider of IT services and solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Abluva, an innovator in agentic AI security, to address security challenges posed by autonomous AI agents in the Life Sciences industry. This collaboration brings together Hexaware's deep domain expertise and Abluva's groundbreaking Secure Intelligence Plane to help organizations in the sector deploy generative AI (GenAI) safely and in compliance with industry regulations. As Life Sciences organizations increasingly adopt agentic AI to enhance research, clinical trials, patient data management, and commercial operations, the partnership ensures that AI agents operate in a secure, governed, and auditable environment--without hindering innovation. Delivering Governed and Secure Generative AI Agents for Life Sciences Innovation.

Jul 10, 2025