Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia landed with his wife in Madrid on September 8, seeking asylum in Spain. He had been the official presidential candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform in the Venezuelan elections held on July 28. According to Opposition parties, the 75-year old retired diplomat was also the victor.

However, the country’s National Electoral Council declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner, re-electing him for a third term. Opposition parties and poll observers dissented, citing their vote tallies to assert that his rival garnered more votes than Mr. Maduro. Exit polls had placed Mr. Gonzalez with 65% support, while Mr. Maduro reportedly had only between 14% to 31% of popular support. Countries such as the U.S, the U.K and Spain have not recognised Mr. Maduro’s victory.

But the powers that be have refused to capitulate. An arrest warrant had been issued for Mr. Gonzalez ahead of his departure, accusing him of several crimes, including conspiracy and forgery of documents.

Gonzalez’s origins

Mr. Gonzalez was born in 1949 in La Victoria, close to Caracas, to a family of limited means. His mother was a teacher and his father a shopkeeper.

Keen on foreign service, Mr. Gonzalez studied international relations at the Central University of Venezuela, also becoming a student leader during his time there. After graduating in 1970, he joined the diplomatic services, serving in Belgium and El Salvador. During a posting to the U.S., he also earned a master’s degree in international affairs from American University in Washington D.C. Mr. Gonzalez also served as Ambassador to Algeria and later Argentina, during the Hugo Chavez regime. He came back to Venezuela in 2002 and retired from the service.

Unobtrusive beginning

His political innings began in an unobtrusive manner. He became a backbench adviser for the Democratic Unity Roundtable — a coalition of Opposition parties — in 2008. He became president of the coalition’s Board of Directors in 2021, but continued in relative public obscurity. He spent his time in academic research, writing papers and giving talks, and being a loving grandfather to his four grandchildren.

Mr. Gonzalez found himself the presidential pick after two Opposition leaders — the popular Maria Corina Machado and Corina Yorisx — were barred from running by officials citing technicalities. As a deadline loomed, Mr. Gonzalez was selected as the Opposition’s candidate in April.

He exuded calmness and a grandfatherly air, particularly contrasted to other firebrand opposition leaders. A photograph of him feeding four guacamayas — tropical parrots, went viral in the country. His slogan “Edmundo, president for all” seemed to offer a salve after the political turbulence of the past few decades. His demeanour garnered him public appeal and opinion polls showed he had built a sizeable lead over Mr. Maduro ahead of the elections.

“It’s time for the big Venezuelan family to come together once more,” he said in an interview with CNN en Español. His poll plank consisted of curtailing inflation, at a 64% year-on-year high, and bringing back trust in government institutions and the judiciary. Further, Mr. Gonzalez was not as openly critical of Mr. Maduro’s regime as other Opposition leaders, and left the prospect of amnesty for political opponents open. Notably, some of these leaders are under investigation by the International Criminal Court for their role in crimes against humanity, following brutal attempts to suppress dissent in Venezuela, which has been witnessing a spiralling economy, sanctions and the flight of citizens over the last few years.

Elections and aftermath

Mr. Maduro and the Opposition had signed an agreement for a free and fair election in October 2023. However, the Opposition has had to navigate several roadblocks ahead of the July election. The candidacy of several Opposition leaders was blocked, and even after Mr. Gonzalez was selected, his campaign was subjected to multiple hurdles. Members of his political campaign were jailed, the Opposition was not given access to polling data or media, and confusion prevailed about the voting process.

Early results on July 28 pointed to a Gonzalez win, but Mr. Maduro was declared as having garnered 51% of the vote by the national election authority, in an announcement post midnight. Opposition leaders say their vote tallies indicate a clear victory for Mr. Gonzalez, and have called upon the authorities to publish the final poll results. International leaders have called for transparency in polling data, while Venezuelans have taken to the streets in protest. Meanwhile, Mr. Maduro has insisted that protestors had been paid to attack election agency offices.

Now, following what Mr. Gonzalez has called “episodes of pressure, coercion, and threats that I wouldn’t be allowed to leave,” he has sought asylum in Spain.

On September 10, Spanish lawmakers debated a symbolic motion from the main opposition party to recognise Mr. Gonzalez as winner of the election, as many exiled from Venezuela gathered outside the Spanish Parliament in Madrid. Among the crowd, which held Venezuelan flags and chanted “Brave Venezuela” and “Edmundo, president,” was Carolina Gonzalez, the retired diplomat’s daughter.

She had a message from her father for the protestors: “I assure you that this fight will continue until we reach our objectives, until the end… Do not lose heart, I will not let you down.”

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, who is seeking reelection for a third term, dances during the closing of his political campaign, in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Uncertainty hangs over presidential elections in Venezuela on July 28, with incumbent Nicolas Maduro vowing a “bloodbath” if he loses, which polls say is likely.

Seeking a third six-year term at the helm of the economically devastated country, Mr. Maduro lags behind challenger Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia in voter intention. However, the 61-year-old counts on loyal electoral machinery, military leadership and state institutions in a system of political patronage and, critics say, opposition repression.

Mr. Maduro said July 25 that he, and he alone, can “guarantee peace and stability” for Venezuela, having warned recently of a “bloodbath” if he loses to an opposition he has sought to paint as “fascists.”

Analysts have told AFP that violence is likely if the state apparatus intervenes in an election that the opposition is all but certain of winning. Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, for his part, urged Venezuelans not let “the message of hate… intimidate you.”

Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old former diplomat, is running in the place of wildly popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from the presidential race by institutions loyal to Mr. Maduro on what she and others say are trumped-up corruption charges.

Last week, the Venezuelan rights group Foro Penal reported 102 arrests this year of people linked to the opposition campaign, adding to more than 270 “political prisoners” in the country. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said July 25 that Washington hoped for “peaceful elections” and stressed that “any political repression and violence is unacceptable.”

The United States, which has sanctions in place against the Maduro government, is keen for a return to stability in oil-rich Venezuela, whose economic collapse has prompted many migrants to head to the southern U.S. border.

Rights watchdog Human Rights Watch said the U.S., European Union, and influential neighbours Brazil and Colombia should use every diplomatic tool to protect the integrity of the vote.

“While the election in Venezuela will hardly be free or fair, Venezuelans have their best chance in over a decade to elect their government, and the international community should have their back as they do,” said HRW Americas director Juanita Goebertus.

Venezuela’s failed economy

The government in Caracas accuses the opposition of conspiring against Mr. Maduro, whose 2018 re-election was rejected as illegitimate by most Western and Latin American countries.

Years of tough sanctions and other pressure have failed to dislodge the president, who enjoys support from a political patronage system and the nation’s military leaders, as well as from Cuba, Russia and China.

Mr. Maduro has repeatedly vowed that he won’t cede power now even as Venezuelans clamour for change.

The formerly rich petro-state has seen GDP fall by 80% in less than a decade, driving some seven million of its citizens to flee. Most Venezuelans live on just a few dollars a month, with the health care and education systems in total disrepair and biting shortages of electricity and fuel.

The government blames U.S. sanctions for the state of affairs, however, observers say the collapse of the country’s all-important oil industry was mainly the result of deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement.

U.S. oil sanctions were briefly eased after Mr. Maduro agreed in negotiations with the opposition to hold free and fair elections this year. They were tightened after he reneged on the conditions, though Washington is allowing companies to apply for individual licenses to keep operating in Venezuela.

‘If you lose, you go’

The election poses the biggest threat yet to 25 years of “Chavismo,” the populist movement founded by Mr. Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez.

Voter Mercedes Henriques, 68, told AFP at an opposition rally she was excited for change “because we cannot anymore with this dictatorship we have.” But her optimism was tainted by worry. “We are praying that they don’t steal the election,” she said.

Analysts told AFP the Mr. Maduro is unlikely to concede defeat, especially in the absence of any immunity guarantees. The Venezuelan government is under investigation for human rights abuses by the International Criminal Court.

Some 21 million Venezuelans are eligible to cast a vote on Sunday.

Caracas has withdrawn an invitation to European Union experts to observe the vote, while allowing monitors from the U.N. and the U.S.-based Carter Center.

Argentina’s former president Alberto Fernandez on July 24 said that Caracas had also withdrawn an invitation for him to observe the polling. This came after he echoed a statement by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had said: “Maduro has to learn: if you win, you stay. If you lose, you go.”