President Edmundo González Urrutia of Venezuela will visit Panama on January 8

The candidate of the largest opposition coalition in Venezuela, Edmundo González Urrutia, will visit Panama on Wednesday January 8 to meet with our head of state, José Raúl Mulino.  Former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004) explained on Friday that President Edmundo will only be here in Panama for 24 hours, and will meet President Mulino first but later in the afternoon he will welcome the Venezuelan community here in Panama.   He will then fly to the Dominican Republic where President Luis Abinader will be waiting for him.”

Moscoso said that González Urrutia will be accompanied by nine former presidents who are members of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA), to which she herself belongs.  González Urrutia will embark on an international tour in Argentina this Saturday in preparation for January 10, when Nicolás Maduro, pictured above left, will assume a new consecutive term amid allegations of fraud by the opposition, Edmundo and Maria, which has shown the minutes that attribute the victory to González Urrutia, exiled in Spain since September.  The standard-bearer of the majority opposition “comes to Panama to talk with the first country that cut relations with Venezuela after the elections in the South American country and to talk about the future of Venezuela.”

“We hope that he will speak with President Mulino, who will once again support President Edmundo, and we hope that other countries will do the same,” added Moscoso.  Panama was one of the countries in the region that recognized Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner of the presidential elections of July 28, in which the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, dominated by the ruling party, declared the reelection of Nicolás Maduro without presenting the minutes that support it.  Following the elections, Panama and Venezuela closed their respective diplomatic representations and the Maduro government has suspended commercial flights with Panama. Pictured above is Edmundo with an opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, who remains in hiding in Venezuela.