US President Joe Biden has called the exiled candidate for Venezuela’s opposition, Edmundo González, “the true winner” of the country’s presidential election last July after meeting him at the White House.
In a social media post, Biden said Venezuela deserved a “peaceful transfer of power”.
González fled to Spain in September after turmoil following Venezuela’s election, in which incumbent President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory – something disputed by González and many sections of the international community.
The Maduro government reacted to the meeting with fury, calling it “grotesque” and accusing Biden of backing a violent anti-democratic project, Reuters news agency reports.
Tension has been rising in the country as the day of the presidential inauguration – set for Friday – approaches, with both Maduro and González telling their supporters that they will be sworn in.
The Maduro government, which has been in power since 2013, has deployed thousands of police and cut off major roads leading into the capital, Caracas, in what is widely seen as a tactic to deter any anti-government protests.
But González, who has been living in exile in Spain since September, says he will defy an arrest warrant which has been issued for him and return to his homeland to take up office.
However, he has not given any details as to how he plans to enter Venezuela, where the government is offering a $100,000 (£80,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.
González has also not said how he plans to be sworn in when the National Assembly – the legislative body where the presidential oath is performed – is firmly in the hands of government loyalists.
The opposition has nevertheless remained defiant and called on its supporters to take to the streets on Thursday.
It has also rallied key international support with González’s visit to the White House – the latest stop in a tour which has also seen him meet with the Argentine and Uruguayan presidents.
In all three countries, he was met by cheering crowds of Venezuelans who held up signs reading “freedom”.
Almost eight million Venezuelans have left their homeland in recent years to escape economic hardship and political persecution, and many of them are living in Latin America and the US.
Following Biden’s meeting with González on Monday, the White House said it would be “closely” following the response Venezuela’s authority will give to the opposition protests planned for Thursday.
In the aftermath of July’s election, thousands of Venezuelans who had expressed their anger at Maduro’s claim of election victory were arrested and charged with “terrorism”. Many remain behind bars.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the election and who threw her weight behind Edmundo González, told AFP news agency on Monday that all the Maduro government had left was fear.
“If we all come out, millions, how can a few hundred or a few thousand armed people [prevail] against 30 million Venezuelans?” she asked.
Referring to the voting tallies that the opposition has made public, she also insisted that the “whole world knows” González is “the rightful president-elect”.
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 declared Maduro the winner on 29 July, the day after the vote, but it has to this day failed to provide the tallies to back up its claim.
With the help of accredited election witnesses, the opposition managed to collect and publish more than 80% of the voting tallies.
Independent observers and media, including US outlets the New York Times and CNN, have reviewed the tallies and say they suggest that Edmundo González won the election with 67% of the votes, compared to Maduro’s 30%.
In December, the UN Human Rights Committee ordered Venezuela “to refrain from destroying” the voting tallies.
