Venezuelan Opposition Leader Meets with President Biden to Seek Support in Removing Maduro from Office
Washington D.C. – Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who claimed victory in last year’s presidential election against current President Nicolás Maduro, met with President Biden on Monday in an effort to rally support in removing Maduro from office.
The meeting took place at the White House, where González Urrutia and U.S. officials discussed their shared efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela. The two leaders emphasized the importance of respecting the will of the people, as expressed through a transparent and accountable electoral process, and said González Urrutia’s campaign victory should be honored through a peaceful transfer back to democratic rule.
The two leaders also expressed deep concern over Maduro’s use of repression against peaceful protesters, democracy activists, and civil society, and reiterated the U.S. commitment to hold him accountable for his anti-democratic and repressive actions.
González Urrutia met with Biden ahead of his trip to the Americas, where he has been seeking support for his efforts to remove Maduro from office. The presidential term in Venezuela is set to begin on Friday, with Maduro’s loyalists planning to swear him in for a sixth term.
González Urrutia has been leading his opposition coalition in the fight for democratic recovery in Venezuela, and has been using social media to document the election results, posting tally sheets that show he won the election with a large margin. The U.S. and most European governments have rejected the official results and consider González Urrutia the legitimate winner.
