“It is time for a peaceful transition,” says Edmundo González – DW – 04/24/2024

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Edmund Gonzalez Urrutia He went from being an illustrious unknown to the presidential candidate of the Venezuelan opposition: a diplomat by profession and now ambassador of the opposition leader María Corina Machado, he will face the president Nicolas Maduro in the July 28 elections with a view to “a peaceful transition.” González, 74 years old and for the first time aspiring to an elected positiontells AFP that he takes on this “challenge” without “personal aspirations.”

The candidate of the majority anti-Chavista alliance assured today, in his first message to the country published on his social networks, that his commitment is focused on the recovery of Venezuela and carrying out a transition with guarantees. The candidate – chosen unanimously by the parties that form the Democratic Unity Table (MUD)- committed to building a country “where no one feels afraid of being persecuted for their ideas” and in which “the autonomy and independence of public powers is guaranteed.”

“I had never, never, never thought of being in this position,” this career diplomat, who was ambassador to Algeria and Argentina, acknowledges in a slow tone in an interview with the French agency. “This is my contribution to the democratic cause… I do this with selflessness, as a contribution to unity.” “This is the time to achieve a peaceful democratic transition for Venezuelans,” he adds.

Although he emphasizes that his participation in the opposition forces is long-standing, González was until now in the shadows. His candidacy was initially provisional, waiting for a name to be defined, but finally his application was ratified and, suddenly, he became the opposition candidate, although without losing his low profile. “I said, when this was proposed to me, that if this designation was unanimous, with the unanimous support of all political forces, it was obviously a commitment that I was going to accept. And so it was.”

Edmundo González Urrutia, during a moment of his interview with AFP in Caracas.Image: Ronald Pena/AFP

Afraid of facing the government? “Not fear, but reservations due to the immense responsibility that this entails. We are in a moment in which this regime does not play very well with us. For them we are not adversaries, but enemies.” “These are circumstances that life throws at you,” but “it is secondary to the challenge that lies ahead of us,” he maintains. “Venezuela needs to put aside the pugnacity, the political diatribe, the confrontation” that have characterized 25 years of Chavista governments.

“In July of this year we will have a new political reality in Venezuela and the government will have to admit this new reality, face it and make the corresponding decisions,” he maintains, open to a “negotiation” in the transition.

There are three months left until the election and his candidacy is fragile, amid the obstacles that power places in the path of the opposition. “We are going to focus our work on a campaign that promotes the reunion of Venezuelans, the return of political exiles. The transition implies that, the economic recovery of the country and the recovery of democracy,” he maintains.

lgc (afp, efe)