Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (pictured) revealed on Wednesday that he was coerced to sign a document containing the commitment to recognize the victory of Nicolas Maduro in the presidential elections to be allowed to leave the country.
In a video address posted on X, Gonzalez Urrutia said that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez visited him while he was at the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas and urged him to sign the document. He further said he was given an ultimatum - "sign or face the consequences."
"There were hours of intense coercion, blackmail, and pressure. I thought that I would be more useful free than incarcerated and prevented from fulfilling the commitments made to the sovereign people," the politician stressed, and vowed that he will not "betray" the trust that the Venezuelan people granted him.