Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

Venezuelan opposition still hopes to unseat Maduro despite their candidate's exile

News

Venezuelan opposition still hopes to unseat Maduro despite their candidate's exile
News

News

Venezuelan opposition still hopes to unseat Maduro despite their candidate's exile

2024-09-10 05:02 Last Updated At:05:11

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado tried to reassure supporters Monday that her coalition still hopes to gain control of the presidency despite the departure into exile of their candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.

Machado's group maintains that it has evidence that González won the July 28 presidential election by a wide margin against Venezuela's authoritarian incumbent president, Nicolás Maduro, despite his claim to have won.

More Images
Supporters of Edmundo González wait for his arrival outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Supporters of Edmundo González wait for his arrival outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Carolina, the daughter of Edmundo González, is photographed traveling inside a car as she leaves the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Carolina, the daughter of Edmundo González, is photographed traveling inside a car as she leaves the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolás Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolás Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

Supporters of Edmundo González gather outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Supporters of Edmundo González gather outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Machado told an online meeting Monday of opposition leaders, reporters and others that her group still hopes to see Maduro leave office in January, even if for voters those hopes seem increasingly tenuous since González’s decision to flee into exile to Spain over the weekend.

She said the former diplomat could fulfill the role of opposition candidate “with much greater protection and security” from abroad. She herself has gone into hiding in the weeks since the election, while Maduro's government has arrested more than 2,000 people and cracked down on demonstrations throughout the country protesting the election results.

“Nothing has changed,” she insisted from an undisclosed location in Venezuela.

González, 75, landed Sunday at a military airport near Madrid, accompanied by his wife and Spanish officials. His departure was announced late Saturday by Venezuela’s government, which days earlier had ordered his arrest.

González had not been seen publicly since the week after the vote, when he and Machado announced not only that their campaign had obtained vote tallies from over two-thirds of the electronic voting machines used in the election but also that they had published them online to show the world that Maduro had lost the contest.

Their assertions stunned supporters and critics alike, because the National Electoral Council had declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed, giving him a third six-year term set to begin on Jan. 10. The panel, stacked with ruling party loyalists, never released detailed vote tallies to support Maduro’s claim to victory.

González had never run for office before the presidential election. The leadership of the Unitary Platform opposition coalition chose him as candidate after the government banned Machado from running for office and did not allow her hand-picked successor to register for the contest.

Machado became his key surrogate, and they campaigned together.

González said in a statement Monday that he is not motived by “personal ambition." He wrote that he remains committed to “the realization of the popular will,” but he did not explain how he intends to continue to work toward that goal.

“My commitment is not based on personal ambition, this decision is a gesture that reaches out to everyone, and I hope that it will be reciprocated as such,” González said.

Machado told reporters that González is “Venezuela’s president-elect” regardless of his location and will remain so “until the day he is sworn in as president.” She did not offer any details of the strategy that could lead to that result.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility.

In a statement critical of the election, the U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory, but they said the faction’s voting records published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

Supporters of Edmundo González wait for his arrival outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Supporters of Edmundo González wait for his arrival outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Carolina, the daughter of Edmundo González, is photographed traveling inside a car as she leaves the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Carolina, the daughter of Edmundo González, is photographed traveling inside a car as she leaves the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolás Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolás Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

Supporters of Edmundo González gather outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Supporters of Edmundo González gather outside the Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give President Donald Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0. Another pick, John Ratcliffe for CIA director, is also expected to have a swift vote, as soon as Tuesday. Action on others, including former combat veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, is possible later in the week.

“Marco Rubio is a very intelligent man with a remarkable understanding of American foreign policy,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican, said as the chamber opened.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials. During Trump’s first term, the Senate swiftly confirmed his defense and homeland security secretaries on day one, and President Joe Biden’s choice for director of national intelligence was confirmed on his own Inauguration Day.

With Trump’s return to the White House, and his Republican Party controlling majorities in Congress, his outsider Cabinet choices are more clearly falling into place, despite initial skepticism and opposition from both sides of the aisle.

Rubio, who was surrounded by colleagues in the Senate chamber, said afterward he feels “good, but there’s a lot of work ahead.”

“It’s an important job in an important time, and I’m honored by it,” Rubio said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune moved quickly Monday, announcing he expected voting to begin “imminently” on Trump’s nominees.

Democrats have calculated it's better for them to be seen as more willing to work with Trump, rather than simply mounting a blockade to his nominees. They're holding their opposition for some of his other picks who have less support, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said his party will “neither rubber-stamp nominees we feel are grossly unqualified, nor oppose nominees that deserve serious consideration.”

Rubio, he said, is an example of "a qualified nominee we think should be confirmed quickly."

Senate committees have been holding lengthy confirmation hearings on more than a dozen of the Cabinet nominees, with more to come this week. And several panels are expected to meet late Monday to begin voting to advance the nominees to the full Senate for confirmation.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously advanced Rubio's nomination late Monday. The Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee, respectively, voted to move the nominations of Hegseth and Ratcliffe. And the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee advanced nominees Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary and Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, but with opposition.

Rubio, a well-liked senator and former Trump rival during the 2016 presidential race, has drawn closer to the president in recent years. He appeared last week to answer questions before the Foreign Relations Committee, where he has spent more than a decade as a member.

As secretary of state, Rubio would be the nation’s top diplomat, and the first Latino to hold the position. Born in Miami to Cuban immigrants, he has long been involved in foreign affairs, particularly in South America, and has emerged as a hawk on China’s rise.

During his confirmation hearing last week, Rubio warned of the consequences of America’s “unbalanced relationship” with China. While he echoes Trump’s anti-globalist rhetoric, Rubio is also seen as an internationalist who understands the power of U.S. involvement on the global stage.

Rubio cultivated bipartisan support from across the aisle, both Republicans and Democrats. He takes over for outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has said he hopes the Trump administration continues Biden's policies in the Middle East to end the war in Gaza and to help Ukraine counter Russian nomination.

The Senate is split 53-47, but the resignation of Vice President JD Vance and, soon, Rubio drops the GOP majority further until their successors arrive. Republicans need almost all every party member in line to overcome Democratic opposition to nominees.

Objection from any one senator, as is expected with Hegseth and several other choices, would force the Senate into procedural steps that would drag voting later into the week.

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, pose for a photo at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. First row from left, Elise Stefanik, John Ratcliffe, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Howard Lutnick, Pete Hegseth, Doug Burgum, Brooke L. Rollins, Marco Rubio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; second row from left, Scott Turner, Tulsi Gabbard, Sean Duffy, Linda McMahon, Lee Zeldin, Kristi Noem, Chris Wright, Doug Collins, Kelly Loeffler and Scott Bessent; and third row from left, Stephen Miran, Jamieson Greer, Kevin Hassett, Kash Patel and Russell Vought. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, pose for a photo at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. First row from left, Elise Stefanik, John Ratcliffe, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Howard Lutnick, Pete Hegseth, Doug Burgum, Brooke L. Rollins, Marco Rubio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; second row from left, Scott Turner, Tulsi Gabbard, Sean Duffy, Linda McMahon, Lee Zeldin, Kristi Noem, Chris Wright, Doug Collins, Kelly Loeffler and Scott Bessent; and third row from left, Stephen Miran, Jamieson Greer, Kevin Hassett, Kash Patel and Russell Vought. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a nominee for Secretary of State, attends the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a nominee for Secretary of State, attends the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Recommended Articles
Hot · Posts