Edmundo González Urrutia: Who is the candidate of the Venezuelan opposition rival of Nicolás Maduro for the elections of July 28, 2024

Since last March 26, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), a coalition that brings together the majority of opposition parties in Venezuelaachieved the provisional registration of Edmund Gonzalez Urrutia before the National Electoral Council (CNE), he has not spoken in public and has maintained a discreet interaction on his social networks. He has not been seen in images with leaders like Maria Corina Machado.

“I accept the immense honor and responsibility of being the candidate of all those who want change through electoral means. A hug to the people of Venezuela. Soon I will be addressing all Venezuelans who are betting on the recovery of the country,” he wrote on Sunday. Gonzalez Urrutia on his social network account X, two days after being confirmed as a candidate. It was his second message on that platform in the last seven years.

When Gonzalez Urrutia was registered, some analysts considered that it was a PUD strategy to avoid being left without a candidate and that the final purpose would be to insist on the candidacy of Corina Yoris who was proposed by Machado in the face of the political disqualification that weighs on her.

It should be noted that the Venezuelan electoral law allows the replacement of candidates until before the final closing of registrations, which officially was on Saturday, April 20.

On Friday, after numerous closed-door meetings to resolve discrepancies, the PUD finally confirmed to Gonzalez Urrutia as the opposition candidate. He did it hours before the deadline to appear on the ballot for the next July 28 elections, where He will face the current president Nicolás Maduro.

To close the agreement, the opponent Manuel Rosalesof the party A New Timeagreed to renounce his candidacy and support Gonzalez Urrutia.

“Venezuela and the democrats of the world, I want to give very good news to the people of Venezuela, the Democratic Unitary Platform unanimously just approved the ambassador’s candidacy Edmund Gonzalez Urrutia as the candidate of unity, supported by all factors,” said the executive secretary of the PUD on Friday, Omar Barboza in statements to the media.

“We want to recognize the governor Rosales a man who keeps his word, who after hearing the presentation of all the members of the Platform decided to decline his candidacy to join that of Edmundo González Urrutia,” he noted.

And this Saturday, her own Machado He used his social networks to publicly support Gonzalez Urrutia.

“Today there are 99 days left, because we already have a date, July 28, we already have a card and we already have a candidate who has been supported by the whole world, by all political parties, by good citizens, Edmundo González Urrutia,” he said. said Machado in a video.

Machado He asked Venezuelans, inside and outside the Caribbean nation, to organize to “guarantee that every vote counts.”

“Today we have taken this great step, we followed a mandate, the mandate of October 22, in the primaries, and based on that mandate we have been overcoming obstacles after obstacles, as we did yesterday, we have done it together by the hand of God and that is what it means to go to the end,” he added.

For its part, On Saturday, Rosales confirmed his resignation as a presidential candidate to support González Urrutia.

“In our commitment to the electoral route to change Venezuela, we register before the National Electoral Council the resignation of Manuel Rosales Guerrero as a candidate for the presidential election on July 28,” said his Un Nuevo Tiempo party on the social network X.

Meanwhile he CNE announced on Saturday its decision to extend the candidate substitution process for another 72 hours, after receiving requests from different political organizations. Now the deadline expires on Tuesday, April 23.

In addition to Edmundo González Urrutia,

Another 10 opponents have registered their candidacies for the July 28 elections, although none are among the favorites.

Who is Edmundo González Urrutia?

Edmund Gonzalez Urrutia74 years old, has been an ambassador for Venezuela in Algeria (from 1991 to 1993) and Argentina, between 1998 and 2002, when Hugo Chávez was already in power.

As the AFP agency notes, González has had his social networks inactive since 2017, except for a short publication in X on March 31, days after registering as a “cover candidate”, to warn that someone had “taken the liberty of opening an unauthorized account.” And this Sunday’s publication.

In his profile X presents himself as diplomat, international analyst and writer. Since its announcement, the account has risen from about 7,000 followers to about 30,000.

He was born in La Victoria, Aragua state. He is a graduate of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and obtained his master’s degree in International relations in the American University of Washington, United States, in 1981.

He has held various positions in the General Directorate of International Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela between 1994 and 1998, including the direction of the Strategic Analysis and Planning committee.

He currently serves as deputy director and coordinator of the Working Group for Monitoring the International System of the Fermín Toro Institute of Parliamentary Studieswhere he collaborates with other prominent Venezuelan lawyers and politicians, notes the Infobae portal.

Gonzalez Urrutia has written a book about the Venezuelan historian, diplomat, lawyer and intellectual Caracciolo Parra Pérezwhich was digitized and made available to the public this year.

He has also participated in works such as “Democracy, peace and development”, “Venezuela and Colombia: a relationship of encounters and disagreements”, “Venezuela-Argentina: two centuries of shared visions” y “The international fight against corruption and its repercussions in Venezuela”, according to Infobae.

Regarding politics, González Urrutia has never competed for elected office.

He has been president of the Democratic Unity Table (MUD)later replaced by the PUD, and was an advisor in the only major opposition electoral victory in the elections for the National Assembly in 2015.

“González is the antithesis of Chavismo, Madurismo and the traditional politician. He is a cultured, honest, family-oriented man, without duplicity and without a hint of populism,” wrote analyst José Toro Hardy.

“Edmundo González’s greatest asset is his lack of knowledge (among the population), because it implies a very low level of rejection and a lot of possibility of growth in the face of rejection (in surveys) of Maduro,” said Omar Vásquez Heredia, a doctor in political science and researcher.

Since Friday, González’s name has been the main trend on X in Venezuela.

“The ‘cover’ candidate became a national phenomenon without saying a word,” wrote political activist Brenner Barrios on social networks.