Edmundo Gonzalez, who competed against Nicolas Maduro in the July presidential elections, says that his son-in-law was kidnapped in Caracas by abusive men.
Edmundo Gonzalezthe leader of Venezuela's political opposition, has accused men in hiding of kidnapping his son-in-law, who is still missing.
Gonzalez, who ran in the country's controversial presidential election in July, announced the news on social media on Tuesday.
“This morning my son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped,” Gonzalez write.
“Rafael was heading to the school of my grandchildren, aged 7 and 6, in Caracas, to drop them off for the start of classes, and he was caught by hooded men in black clothes, put in a truck gold colored pickup with the license plate AA54E2C and took it away. At the moment it is lost. “
Gonzalez himself is currently facing an arrest warrant in Venezuela, where he is said to be the legitimate winner of the July 28 presidential contest.
That is opposed by the current President Nicolas Maduro, who said the same victory. Maduro is expected to be sworn in for a third term on Friday.
The opposition and other critics of the Maduro government have protested against the election and the official results, which they claim are not transparent and fair.
A pre-election poll appeared to show Maduro trailing Gonzalez by a narrow margin. But shortly after the polls closed, the country's electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, without releasing the usual breakdown of the voting situation.
Venezuela's opposition argued that top ratings show Gonzalez beating Maduro by a two-to-one margin, and have published what appear to be official leaflets online.
That raised doubts about the legitimacy of his victory, and protesters flooded the streets in cities like Caracas after the vote.
The government, in turn, has been accused of leading a brutal crackdown on protesters and political opponents after the election.
About 2,000 people were initially arrested, and 23 killed, although Maduro's government recently said released 1,515 of the detainees. His administration has long faced allegations of political repression and human rights abuses, including torture and arbitrary detention.
In September, Venezuelan government prosecutors charged Gonzalez with conspiracy, abuse of power and falsification of documents, and a court issued a warrant for his arrest.
A leader against the country fled and went into exile in Spain. But he has promised to return to Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns.
Maduro and his allies claim that Gonzalez and other opposition members worked with hostile foreign powers to destabilize the country.
In early January, Gonzalez left Spain to support his trip across America and put pressure on the Maduro government.
He has already visited Argentina and Uruguay, and on Monday, he met with US President Joe Biden, whose government Gonzalez known as legitimate president in November.
While regional leaders have expressed skepticism about Maduro's claims of victory and criticized the crack as for activists, it is not yet clear what leverage can be attributed to Gonzalez.
