Venezuelan opposition leader, Edmundo González Urrutia, confirmed last Saturday (4), in Buenos Aires, that he will travel to the United States and that he plans to meet with President Joe Biden, as part of his international trip before January 10, when he intends to take over the Venezuelan government.
“This same night, we will leave for the United States,” said González Urrutia at a press conference held at the headquarters of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following his meeting with President Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada.
He was accompanied by Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich. After Argentina, the opposition leader visited Uruguay, where Luis Lacalle Pou was received.
“The agenda (in the United States) is still being defined, but it includes meetings with political leaders represented in Congress. We are also planning a conversation with President Biden and we are awaiting definitions on the new authorities,” said González Urrutia when asked about a possible meeting with Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20.
González Urrutia, 75 years old, was the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the largest Venezuelan opposition coalition, in the July 28 presidential elections.
The PUD claims to have collected, through witnesses and poll workers, more than 85% of the electoral records that, according to the group, show González Urrutia as the winner of the presidential elections, documents that the government accuses of being false.
When asked if he will be in Venezuela on January 10, despite the fact that there is an arrest warrant against him and that dictator Maduro has announced a reward for information leading to his arrest, González Urrutia limited himself to confirming that he will travel to his country to take office, without giving details, citing security reasons.
“Today, more than ever, I feel geographically and emotionally closer to fulfilling the mandate that Venezuelans gave us in the July elections,” said the politician, indicating that January 10 will be an “emotionally charged date.”
“I will not reveal more than what I have already said: that my intention is to go to Venezuela simply to take possession of the mandate that the Venezuelans gave me when they elected me with more than 7 million votes,” he said, after making it clear that “the circumstances are complicated.”
The trip, which began last Saturday in Argentina, took him to Uruguay, and will continue to the United States, Panama and the Dominican Republic, for now, with the aim of gathering support to assume the presidency.
González Urrutia justified that he will not travel to Chile because President Gabriel Boric is not in Santiago at the moment.
“We contacted his collaborators to set up a meeting, but he is out of Santiago, on a mission, and it is not easy to set up a meeting in such a short space of time,” he explained.
Regarding the visit to Argentina, the Venezuelan politician said that “it was an extraordinary day”.
“We discussed at length with President Milei, listening to his observations about how he knew how to manage the Argentine economy and what lessons we could learn from that”, he reported.