Venezuela offers $100,000 reward for arrest of exiled opposition candidate

Venezuela’s government has offered a $100,000 (£81,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the opposition’s exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González.

He fled the country in September and was granted political asylum in Spain after Venezuela’s authorities ordered his arrest, accusing González of conspiracy and of forging documents.

González had vowed to return to Venezuela before President Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration next Friday, accusing the government of rigging the vote.

Shortly after the reward was announced, González said he was travelling to Argentina to begin a tour of Latin America, where he will meet fierce Maduro critic President Javier Milei on Saturday.

The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has ordered Venezuela “to refrain from destroying” the voting tallies from the presidential election in July 2024.

The voting tallies – a detailed official breakdown of the votes from each polling station – have been at the centre of the dispute over who won the election.

The government-aligned National Electoral Council (CNE) declared the incumbent, Maduro, the winner but failed to provide the voting tallies to back up its claim.

The opposition, which with the help of accredited election witnesses collected and published more than 80% of the voting tallies, says these prove that its candidate, González, was the overwhelming winner.

González was not well known in Venezuela when he registered as a candidate for the country’s presidential election back in March.

He had never run for public office before and was not even widely known in opposition circles.

But months after he decided to run for the top office, the low-key former diplomat overtook Maduro in the opinion polls.

Venezuela has seen divisions between government and opposition supporters get ever deeper over the past decade or so.

González’s reconciliatory tone during the presidential campaign was in stark contrast to that of Maduro, who warned of a “bloodbath” should González win.

The 2018 re-election of Maduro was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.