Edmundo González still thinks he's the president of Venezuela and is dedicated to allying himself with the global right.   Photo: EFE.

Madrid, December 10 (RHC)-- The former candidate who lost the Venezuelan presidential  elections on July 28th still refuses to accept the results and asserts that he plans to assume the presidency of the country on his own, ignoring Venezuelan institutions.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, the Venezuelan opposition politician Edmundo González assured that he will return to Venezuela before January 10th -- the date on which the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro as re-elected president for the period 2025-2031 is slated.

“I left Venezuela temporarily.  I knew I would return at any moment and the moment is January 10th, the date of the inauguration,” said González, in a narrative already used previously by Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself president in charge of the Bolivarian nation in 2019.

The defeated candidate says that he will be president of Venezuela despite the fact that the people decided otherwise.  “I do not want to get into that.  My objective is to take office and, from then on, make the decisions that need to be made; among others, the appointment of the government team,” said the man who signed with his own handwriting the recognition of the electoral results and the institutions of Venezuela from Spain.

When asked by the Spanish newspaper whether or not he would preside over a government in exile, he replied: “No, no… That is clear: I will be in Venezuela.”  Edmundo Gonzalez also claimed that he will appoint María Corina Machado as executive vice president.

This, a few days after a plot was revealed in which Machado herself, international drug trafficking networks and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) participated.  According to the investigations, the far-right leader promised the U.S. agency to hand over drug trafficking routes in exchange for resources and political support.

Edmundo González arrived in Madrid in September, after making public the recognition of his defeat.  However, in November, three months after the election, the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that the United States recognized Gonzalez as president of Venezuela and since then an international media and diplomatic campaign has been launched for his de facto installation in the presidency of Venezuela.