Venezuelan opposition candidate claims son-in-law has been kidnapped

Edmundo Gonzalez, the leader of Venezuela’s political opposition, has accused masked men of kidnapping his son-in-law, who remains missing.

Gonzalez, who ran in the country’s contested presidential election in July, announced the news on social media on Tuesday.

“This morning my son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped,” Gonzalez wrote.

“Rafael was heading to my grandchildren’s school, ages 7 and 6, in Caracas, to drop them off for the start of classes, and he was intercepted by hooded men dressed in black, who put him in a gold-coloured pickup truck with the license plate AA54E2C and took him away. At this time he is missing.”

Gonzalez himself currently faces an arrest warrant in Venezuela, where he has asserted that he is the rightful winner of the July 28 presidential contest.

That has put him at odds with incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, who likewise claimed victory. Maduro is set to be sworn in for a third term on Friday.

The opposition and other critics of Maduro’s government have protested against the election and the official results, which they maintain lacked transparency and fairness.

Pre-election polling appeared to show Maduro trailing Gonzalez by a steep margin. But shortly after polls closed, the country’s electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, without releasing the usual breakdown of the voting tally.

Venezuela’s opposition argued that precinct-level tallies show Gonzalez beating Maduro by a two-to-one margin, and they have published what appear to be official tally sheets online.