Venezuelan presidential contender Edmundo Gonzalez arrived to the Dominican Republic at 10pm on Wednesday, 8 January 2025 on the fifth stop of his Americas tour. Gonzalez has the 28 July election rolls that indicate that he won with a landside and that he, not Nicolas Maduro, is the President-elect who should be sworn in on 10 January. The Maduro government has made it clear that it will not allow Gonzalez to enter the country.
Gonzalez flew in from Panama where he had met with Panama President Jose Raul Mulino who said that receiving Gonzalez Urrutia was not a symbolic act, but rather a commitment.
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Gonzalez is on a tour of the Americas and has been received by President Javier Milei in Argentina, Luis LaCalle in Uruguay, Joe Biden in the United States, and then Jose Raul Mulino in Panama.
Gonzalez had announced when in the United States that he was cutting short his trip after his son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped in Venezuela.
He had originally been scheduled to visit the DR on Thursday, 9 January to meet with President Luis Abinader.
Gonzalez is traveling to coincide with the 10 January swearing-in scheduled for Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. The Supreme Court of Justice proclaimed Maduro as President-elect despite Gonzalez and the opposition having proof in the voting rolls that they won the July 2024 election.
Gonzalez arrived accompanied by former Latin American Presidents Jorge Quiroga (Bolivia), Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica), Andrés Pastrana (Colombia), Jamil Mahuad (Ecuador), Felipe Calderón, Vicente Fox (México) and Mario Abdo Benítez (Paraguay). Also the secretary general of the Democratic Initiative of the Americas (IDEA), Asdrúbal Aguiar. Dominican former President Hipolito Mejia is also part of the IDEA group.
On Thursday, 9 January he is scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez, and then hold a private meeting with President Luis Abinader. Discussions will center on Venezuela’s political situation, regional democratic challenges and the prospects for a peaceful and orderly transition. The Dominican Presidency has said a lunch for the visiting delegation is scheduled for the Presidential Palace.
In August 2024, following the second term inauguration of President Luis Abinader, the Declaration of Santo Domingo was signed in Santo Domingo by 22 countries, including Argentina, Canada, Chile, the United States, and Italy and Portugal in Europe, calling for the release of the election results from the 28 July 2024 Venezuela presidential election.
The Maduro government ordered the departure of diplomatic staff from the Dominican Embassy in Caracas and closed the Venezuelan embassy in the Dominican Republic. Diplomatic affairs are now handled by the Embassy of Spain.
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Presidency
El Dia
Listin Diario
El Caribe
Ministry of Foreign Relations
Americas Quarterly
Americas Quarterly
EFE
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
9 January 2025