Thousands of people crowd the Puerta del Sol in Madrid shouting 'Out Maduro, Edmundo president'

Thousands of people have packed Madrid's Puerta del Sol this Friday in defense of democracy in Venezuela and in favor of the opposition candidate Edmundo González as the “legitimate president” of the country after the elections of July 28. 'Maduro out, Edmundo president', 'Dictator out', 'What do we want? Freedom', are some of the slogans chanted by the protesters, many of them wrapped in Venezuelan flags.

This act of protest – under the slogan 'We are all Venezuela. Glory to the brave people'— has the support of the PP and Vox leadership. In fact, the top political leaders of both parties are expected to attend, Alberto Nunez Feijoo y Santiago Abascalrespectively.

In this way, PP and Vox support the mobilizations promoted by the Venezuelan opposition on the eve of the inauguration in Caracas, which Edmundo González intends to attend despite the fact that the Maduro regime has threatened him with arrest.

Apart from the proclamations, some of the attendees carried banners with slogans such as 'Justice', 'Maduro killed democracy', 'Repressive government, falsified the vote' or 'Rotten Maduro, the murderers are with you'.

Feijóo called this week to take to the streets on January 9 “for freedom and against tyranny” in Venezuela. “The Venezuelan people filled the ballot boxes with votes for freedom and against tyranny. On January 9, they will fill the streets with hope,” he said in a message on his 'X' account. He also Ayuso has publicly supported these protests. “Madrid, as always, with Venezuela,” he said on the same social network.

THIS FRIDAY THE INAUGURATION IS SCHEDULED

The inauguration after the July elections is scheduled for January 10. Edmundo González has spent the previous days traveling around the United States and Latin America, in a last attempt to demonstrate the support he has before embarking on his theoretical return.

However, despite the fact that a large majority of countries assume that it was he who won the July elections, not all have taken the symbolic step of recognizing him as 'president-elect', a label that has been granted to him by some partners such as the United States, Argentina and Italy.

Venezuela will thus witness the start of a new presidential term on Friday, with the risk of once again entering a phase of two-headedness in which two figures will dispute the legitimacy of the office.

The current president, Nicolás Maduro, insists on his challenge to take office despite the fact that Chavismo has not yet published the minutes that should endorse his theoretical victory, while the opposition Edmundo González clings to the international consensus to lead a new era.