Venezuela's former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez said on Friday he sought diplomatic refuge after being told President Nicolas Maduro's security forces were "coming for you." Gonzalez, whom the opposition insist was the real winner of a July election awarded to Maduro,

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez said he was forced to accept Nicolas Maduro as the victor in July's disputed presidential election to get out of the Spanish Embassy in Caracas and escape from the country.

The revelation of the letter is the latest strain to the country's political crisis, which was exacerbated by the disputed election results and Edmundo González's recent departure for exile in Spain.