Venezuelan opposition leader González Urrutia says son-in-law detained

Venezuela's Edmundo González Urrutia, who the opposition says won a July presidential election against incumbent Nicolás Maduro, condemned on Tuesday the detention of his son-in-law by "hooded men."

"This morning my son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped," Gonzalez Urrutia posted on social media platform X. 

"Rafael was on his way to my grandchildren's school to drop them off for the start of classes, he was intercepted by hooded men, dressed in black, they put him in a gold-coloured van, licence plate AA54E2C and took him away."

Venezuela's government on Monday criticised a meeting between US President Joe Biden and González Urrutia, who has been on an international tour seeking to pressure Maduro to relinquish power. 

The 62-year-old has ruled the oil-rich nation for over a decade, retaining an iron grip on power with the help of police, paramilitaries and the armed forces.

Backed by state institutions loyal to him, Maduro claimed victory in the July polls, with the National Electoral Council (CNE) failing to publicly release results data.

The opposition claimed its polling station-level data showed that González Urrutia had won the election by a landslide.

More than 20 people were killed and nearly 200 were wounded in the rioting that followed Maduro's claim of election victory in July.

Another 2,400 people were arrested in the crackdown, with authorities saying this week that about 1,500 had since been freed. Rights groups have cast doubt on that figure.

González Urrutia, 75, fled in exile to Spain in September and has pledged to return to his country to be sworn in.

Maduro is due to be sworn in for a third six-year term on Friday.

The Maduro administration has vowed to deal harshly with future protests and threatened to jail González Urrutia if he makes good on a promise to return to Venezuela.

– TIMES/AFP