The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, yesterday Tuesday “categorically” rejected the arrest warrant issued the day before Monday against the opposition candidate for the presidency of Venezuela, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, by a court.

“I urge the Venezuelan authorities to respect his freedom, integrity and human rights. Enough of the repression and persecution of the opposition and civil society. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected,” the Spaniard said via X.

Part of the international community, led by the US, does not recognize the result of the July 28 presidential election in Venezuela, after which socialist President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner.

The European Union does not recognize the “democratic legitimation” of President Maduro after his re-election, Mr Borrell clarified last Thursday. The EU, like the US, is demanding the release of full and detailed tally data proving Mr Maduro’s victory.

Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, has failed to comply with three subpoenas — the last deadline passed on Friday — that the former diplomat wanted to file for an opposition website that published a tally by its own election agents, based on which he appeared to be the winner of the election.

The prosecution then asked for an arrest warrant to be issued against him, which was done.

The opposition presidential candidate is scheduled to appear in public from July 30.

Socialist President Maduro, whose re-election was upheld by the Supreme Court, was declared the winner with 52% of the vote by the CNE. However, the electoral commission has not released full, detailed minutes of the count, saying it was hacked.

The opposition, foreign governments and observers see from their own point of view in this maneuver of power to avoid revealing the “real” results. According to the opposition’s electoral proxies’ numbers, Mr Gonzalez Urrutia should have been declared the winner with “more than 60%” of the vote.

For his part, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani yesterday condemned the arrest warrant for Mr. González Urrutia, accusing the Venezuelan government of trying to “stifle freedom.”

He announced that he had called the charge d’affaires of the Venezuelan embassy in Rome to express his government’s “great concern” regarding the situation in the Latin American country, according to a statement from his services. He added that Venezuelan authorities “must make public the results” of the election and that “the Venezuelan people have the right to freely decide their own destiny.”