Venezuela’s opposition leader says son-in-law has been abducted

The son-in-law of exiled Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González has been kidnapped.

“Rafael was on his way to my seven and six-year-old grandchildren’s school in Caracas to drop them off at the start of class when he was abducted by masked men dressed in black,” González posted on X on Tuesday.

He said that they had taken him away in a gold-coloured van.

After the presidential election in Venezuela last July, González claimed victory.

The US and several Latin American countries recognize him as the winner but the election authority, which is loyal to the government, declared authoritarian incumbent Nicolás Maduro as the victor.

Maduro, in power for almost 12 years, is due to be sworn in for a further term of office on Friday.

González travelled to Spain at the beginning of September and applied for political asylum there.

The 75-year-old had announced that he would return home and be sworn in himself on Friday, but decided to stay away with an arrest warrant issued for him.

If he enters the country, González will be arrested and tried on charges of sabotage, conspiracy and usurpation of office, according to Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

Protests by opposition supporters have been violently suppressed by the Venezuelan state in the past.

According to the non-governmental organization Foro Penal, there were almost 1,800 political prisoners by the end of 2024.