González Urrutia, the former ambassador who seeks to reconcile Venezuela

In just one hundred days, the former ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez He went from being a complete unknown in Venezuela to becoming one of the main candidates for the presidential elections, with the support of the largest opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which seeks to regain power after twenty-five years of Chavista government.

González Urrutia, a 74-year-old retired public servant, has repeated that he did not expect to be the presidential candidate, since he had never competed for an elected office, not even when he was a student at the university. Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he graduated with a degree in International Studies in 1970.

“I accept the immense honor and responsibility of being the candidate of all those who want change through elections,” declared González, after having been chosen as the opposition’s candidate for the presidential elections.

During the campaign, González Urrutia has shown himself to be an unusual politician for Venezuelan customs, as he speaks slowly and arrives with his speech prepared, brief but forceful, to read to the crowd wherever he goes.

His campaign message has focused on the promise of improve poor basic services such as electricity and water, as well as education and health, But he has put the emphasis on the re-institutionalization of the State and reconciliation among Venezuelans. Dialogue has also been one of the points he has highlighted, indicating that he is willing to talk with anyone, including representatives of Chavismo.

An independent man

González Urrutia defines himself ideologically as a man of the centre, who believes in the values ​​of democracy, but who has never been a member of any political party in his diplomatic career, which, as he recently explained, has given him independence and at the same time, friends in almost all political parties.

The candidate He began his diplomatic career in the first Government of Rafael Caldera (1969-1974) and this allowed him to hold different positions, such as Director General of International Policy, Director General of the Office of Strategic Analysis and Planning, and Director General of the Committee for Coordination and Strategic Planning, as well as advisor in Argentina and El Salvador.

Between 1991 and 1993 he was Venezuela’s ambassador to Algeria and, at the end of Caldera’s second term (1994-1999), he was appointed ambassador to Argentinawhere he finished his work in 2002, when Hugo Chávez was already in government.

González Urrutia maintained the relations proper of an ambassador during his work in the Chávez Administration and, even, after the coup d’état of April 11, 2002, he wrote an article in La Nación of Argentina in which he thanked the then interim president, Eduardo Duhaldefor their rejection of the uprising

In 2005, after thirty years of service, González Urrutia asked to retire as a public servant to dedicate himself to teaching as a guest professor at the Metropolitan University (Unimet), being part of the Editorial Board of the newspaper El Nacional, and in 2010, being the International Liaison Coordinator of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD, now PUD).

No portrait on fences

González Urrutia’s portrait is not reflected on any billboard in the country or on posters, unlike what happens with those of Nicolas Maduro or other presidential candidates.

She has participated in a few street events in different cities in Venezuela, together with María Corina Machado, and has held meetings with different sectors of the country such as pensioners, students, health personnel and teachers, among others.

Social media has been an important campaign point for the PUD, where the candidate went from having 7,500 followers on social network X, with practically no activity, to more than 153,000 in three months. That is why at the beginning, his opponents worked hard to create fake accounts, both on X and on Instagram, which is why he has had to come out to deny rumors spread by Chavismo about an alleged serious illness.