MADRID (Reuters) – Venezuela’s former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez sought diplomatic refuge after being warned that President Nicolas Maduro’s security forces were “coming for you”, he told Reuters in Madrid on Friday.
Gonazalez, whom the opposition insist was the real winner of a July election awarded to Maduro, said it was probable that if he had stayed in Venezuela he would be jailed and possibly tortured.
He left for Spain after securing guarantees that his family and property in Venezuela would be safe, he added in the interview, saying he wanted to be free to seek support from world leaders for his case to be president.
(Reporting by Corina Rodriguez, writing by Aislinn Laing, editing by Andy Cawthorne)
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