The Venezuelan government has said opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has left the country, seeking asylum in Spain.

Mr González has been in hiding, and a warrant had been issued for his arrest due to his insistence that he is the rightful winner of July’s election.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, (Gonzalez Urrutia) asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” Venezuela’s Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez said on social media.

She added that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage and that he had left.

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