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But US President Donald Trump has backed Maduro’s former vice president Delcy Rodriguez as interim leader as long as Caracas collaborates and gives Washington access to its vast oil reserves.
Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 election amid claims of fraud by the opposition, which provided detailed voting records to back their claim that Gonzalez Urrutia comfortably defeated him.
Gonzalez Urrutia fled to Spain that year after the authorities cracked down on protests following the election.
“Democratic reconstruction in Venezuela depends on the explicit recognition of the electoral result of July 28, 2024,” Gonzalez Urrutia told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a call, according to a statement released by the Venezuelan’s press team.
Sanchez wrote on X that Spain wanted “to stand by the country in this new chapter and contribute to bringing positions closer together”, saying he conveyed the message to both Rodriguez and Gonzalez Urrutia.
“Spain supports a peaceful, negotiated and democratic transition in Venezuela, led by Venezuelans themselves,” Sanchez added.
Trump said shortly after the raid that opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, Gonzalez Urrutia’s close ally, lacked the necessary support and respect to lead the South American country.
Venezuelan authorities on Thursday announced a prisoner release seen as a gesture towards the United States, which Gonzalez Urrutia said made him “deeply happy” in a post on social media.
But he told Sanchez that “the selective release of prisoners cannot replace the full restoration of rights, nor the recognition of the democratic mandate” granted by the 2024 vote, his statement said.
“Real political transitions are complex and cannot be reduced to partial gestures,” Gonzalez Urrutia said, highlighting a difference between “tactical gestures and real commitments”.