Venezuelan opposition lives with mixed feelings the exile of Edmundo González Urrutia in Spain. On the one hand, he regrets that his departure removes the strength and legitimacy of his claim to take office in January as president of Venezuela, when everything seems to indicate that it is his responsibility after what happened in the presidential elections of July 28. On the other hand, he is pleased that a 75-year-old man, father, grandfather, husband, is released from prison and is taking care of his life and that of his loved ones, in obvious danger since he accepted in April. represent María Corina Machado, the leader of the oppositionin the electoral fight against Nicolas Maduro, the president who now refuses to give up power.
Maduro has been tricked and does not even want to hear about the possibility of leaving through the door of the Miraflores Palace, the seat of government. “The problem now is Maduro. His entourage is beginning to think that the situation is untenable, but not him. The situation is complicated,” say Venezuelan sources involved in the process. González Urrutia's departure took place “to avoid a bloodbath” and because he was “an elderly man who was in prison.” “It does not end there, the negotiation continues,” add the same sources. The United States, along with Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, tries to bring Chavismo to the table and convince him to accept defeat and proceed with the transfer of powers, which, in any case, will not take place until January.
In the middle of all this conflict with great international repercussions, González Urrutia is stuck, who until recently was a second-rank and almost unknown political actor. This is not the result of a struggle of several years in the first rank How could it be Leopoldo Lopez? or Henrique Capriles. History suddenly knocked on his door and he opened it, out of historical responsibility. Machado chose him because she herself could not compete due to a ban on the control bodies in the hands of Chavismo. Few could imagine that Machado would manage to transfer all his political capital to Edmundo, whom no one knew, in a matter of days, and that people would come to vote for him in droves. Many political analysts believed that inherit In this way, the vote was not possible, and even less so in such a short time. They were wrong. The anti-Chavista mobilization was monumental. The National Electoral Council (CNE), the entity that was supposed to reveal the final result in the early hours of July 28, refused to show the minutes and therefore did not demonstrate the Chavista victory. The opposition, on the other hand, published on a website everything that their volunteers managed to collect in the voting centers from all over the country. González Urrutia almost triples Maduro's votes.
huge hole
The leader is Machado, there is no doubt about it, but González Urrutia's departure from the country leaves a huge void that the opposition must fill in a complex political landscape, where anyone can be arrested at any time. “It is time to pull ourselves together, to get back up, to continue the fight,” says Machado's team. Some of his closest collaborators did not know last night, minutes before it became official, that González Urrutia had accepted the Spanish offer of political asylum. Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez, brothers and main political operators of Maduro, and the former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero participated in this negotiation. González Urrutia, according to sources close to these conversations, refused to accept the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela, who awarded victory to Maduro after expert advice -the web Armando.info published an investigation in which he demonstrated that the “experts” were in reality disguised Chavista officials. But he demanded that the integrity of Machado's six advisers housed at the Argentine embassy in Caracaspersecuted under the vague accusation of “terrorism” and other political prisoners were released. In the hours before González Urrutia decided to leave or stay, Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine embassy and cut off the electricity to the building. It seemed that the assault was imminent. In reality, it was an intimidation tactic, but not against Argentina, or even against Brazil, the country responsible for representing that country in Venezuela, but against González Urrutia, who, taking refuge in the diplomatic headquarters of the Netherlands, could see how there is no safe or inviolable place for Chavism. The enemy was at the gates.
The trap that González Urrutia's exile entails is that it is accompanied by oblivion, as has happened to many opponents who have left Venezuela for security reasons. It is true that Machado, the main driver of change, remains in the country, but the one who has the legitimacy to wear the presidential sash in January is González Urrutia. She launched a message on social networks in which she left no stone unturned in the idea of a collapse of the opposition's cause: “On January 10, 2025, President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia will be sworn in as constitutional president of Venezuela and commander in chief of the national armed forces. Let this be very clear to everyone: Edmundo will fight from outside alongside our diaspora and I will continue to do so here, alongside you.
González Urrutia's approach was commented with respect and understanding by the majority of political leaders of the Unitary Platform, which brings together the main opposition parties. “Now it is his turn to lead a different fight, to be present in international organizations, to communicate with the millions of Venezuelans abroad and to be the voice of the entire country,” said Delsa Solórzano, one of Machado's closest collaborators. Andrés Caleca, another opponent, said he felt “relieved” by the candidate's departure, and Juan Pablo Guanipa, a deputy in the Assembly, assured that “Edmundo's departure is one more demonstration that we are fighting against a shameful and degrading dictatorship.” Without González Urrutia, the opposition is convinced that it has the task of remaining in Venezuela and claiming the investiture on January 10. “Because that's what Venezuelans voted for,” they argue.