CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Venezuelan opposition leader who claims to have defeated President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election met Monday with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Biden's White House meeting with Edmundo González, who represented Venezuela’s main opposition coalition in the July presidential election, took place as the retired diplomat tries to rally support for his effort to get Maduro out of office by Friday, when by law, the South American country's next presidential term begins.
“We had a long, fruitful and cordial conversation with President Biden and his team,” González told reporters. “We, of course, thanked the United States government for the support it has given us in this fight for democratic recovery in Venezuela. That is a commitment that we take with us and that we will continue to follow until the last day of the president’s government.”
González began a tour of the Americas on Saturday with stops in Argentina and Uruguay. His campaign called on Venezuelans living in the Washington area to gather Monday outside the offices of the Organization of American States.
Meanwhile, Maduro already has received an invitation from the National Assembly to be sworn in for a third six-year term Friday, more than five months after the National Electoral Council, stacked with ruling-party loyalists, declared him winner of the July 28 election.
Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts. However, the opposition collected tally sheets from more than 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines, posted them online and said they showed González had won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
The U.S. and most European governments have rejected the election’s official results and consider González the legitimate winner.
The U.S.-based Carter Center, which Maduro’s government invited to observe the presidential election, has said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.
When asked on Monday about González's plans, Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello insulted the politician, attacked his credibility and threatened him with arrest. He also insisted that Maduro would be sworn in Friday.
“Coward,” Cabello said, referring to the retired diplomat, whom he accused, without offering any proof, of being a CIA agent. “He has neither courage nor disposition... . Mr. González Urrutia knows that as soon as he steps in Venezuela he will be arrested.”
González, who represented the Unitary Platform coalition, left Venezuela for exile in Spain in September after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with an investigation into the publishing of the election's tally sheets. Last week, the government announced a $100,000 reward for information on González's whereabouts.
González on Monday also told reporters his campaign has been in contact with the team of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
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Miller reported from Washington, D.C.
Zeke Miller And Regina Garcia Cano, The Associated Press