Seoul Gazette - Venezuela opposition candidate ignores second summons

Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, who went into hiding shortly after President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of the election, ignored a first summons to appear on Monday.

According to the summons, Gonzalez Urrutia is being investigated for alleged crimes such as "usurpation of functions" and "forgery of public documents."

The Unitary Platform opposition coalition denounced the "judicial harassment" of its candidate who it said won the vote "by an overwhelming majority."

"The repeated summons ... constitute a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression", the coalition wrote on the X social network, adding it now feared an arrest warrant against Gonzalez Urrutia.

The little-known retired diplomat became the last-minute presidential candidate after main opposition figure Maria Corina Machado was banned from running in the July 28 election and threw her weight behind him.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the election, with 52 percent of votes cast, but it has refused to publish detailed results, claiming hackers had corrupted the data.

The opposition published polling-station-level results that appear to show that Gonzalez Urrutia defeated Maduro with 67 percent of the vote.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said the opposition's website, where it has posted the detailed breakdown of election results, had "usurped" the powers of the Maduro-aligned CNE.

Saab, a Maduro ally, said Gonzalez Urrutia would have to explain his "disobedience."

"Whoever attacks the institutions, whoever attacks our people must assume their responsibility. Enough is enough," said Diosdado Cabello, number two in the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

He said the "organs of the judicial system" must "make the necessary decisions" regarding Gonzalez Urrutia.

- Fresh protests called -

Gonzalez Urrutia last appeared in public at a protest two days after the election.

Maduro has said both he and Machado belonged "behind bars."

The announcement of Maduro's reelection sparked protests that left 27 dead and nearly 200 injured, while some 2,400 people were arrested, according to authorities.

Both the government and Machado have called on supporters to turn out for rival demonstrations on Wednesday.

"One month after our glorious victory, in which Edmundo Gonzalez was elected President, Venezuelans (must) again take to the streets," she wrote on X.

The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro as having won without seeing detailed voting results.

Observers say what happens next depends a lot on whether the international community can exert sufficient pressure on Maduro -- who managed to cling to power despite sanctions that followed his 2018 re-election which was also dismissed as a sham by dozens of countries.

Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro has presided over an economic collapse that has seen more than seven million Venezuelans flee the oil-rich country, as GDP plunged 80 percent in a decade.

Experts blame international sanctions and domestic economic mismanagement.

A.Uhm--SG