Edmundo González Urrutia went from enjoying relative peace as a retiree writing articles and moderating online political forums from his home, to becoming an exile. This after accepting to be a presidential candidate and winning, according to the Venezuelan opposition, the presidential elections on July 28.
González Urrutia, a 75-year-old retired ambassador, spent his free time feeding macaws on the balcony of his apartment in Caracas, spending time with his wife and other family members, reading or writing. He constantly offered interviews to journalists who requested his international analysis.
In an interview with the Voice of America He said that, like the rest of Venezuelans, he was faced with the failures of public services and that his pension amount did not allow him to cover “even a hamburger”: he lives off savings and, among other sources, income from renting an apartment.
His tranquility in the role of retiree, husband, father and grandfather ended when he agreed to register as a candidate for the opposition coalition. González Urrutia, considered by the opposition to be the president-elect of Venezuela, was the international representative of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable, now known as the Democratic Unitary Platform, between 2013 and 2015.
Initially, the goal was to “keep the seat” until another candidate could be nominated, following the impediments to registering María Corina Machado, winner of the opposition presidential primary, but disqualified from holding public office. But, amidst government obstacles, she ended up becoming the opposition candidate.
He spent his 75th birthday holed up in the Dutch embassy residence in Caracas, according to Caspar Veldkamp, his foreign minister, and then left for Spain’s diplomatic legation.
There, according to information from the Spanish Foreign Ministry, he decided to request political asylum, in the midst of a “wave of repression” and persecution against the opposition, and an arrest warrant against him after the publication in a web of the minutes that declared him the winner of the presidential election with 67% of the votes.
The prosecution is investigating him for the alleged commission of the crimes of “usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobedience of laws, conspiracy, sabotage to damage systems and association.”
González Urrutia, who has denounced the lack of guarantees by the judiciary, considered an arm of the executive branch, last participated in a public event on July 30, two days after the elections, and since then has limited his appearances to videos on social media.
More than a month after the elections, the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, which proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner for a third term, has not released the disaggregated results despite the pronouncements of a large part of the international community that has not recognized him as president-elect.
With his characteristic slow speech and low tone of voice, González Urrutia expressed in his speeches his commitment to carry out a transition and said he was committed to a Venezuela where no one would fear being persecuted for their ideas.
He repeatedly said that his victory was “overwhelming” and urged Maduro to respect the election results.
Now, according to Machado, who insisted that González Urrutia’s life was in danger in Venezuela, his fight will continue from exile, alongside the Venezuelan diaspora.
Although he had an outstanding diplomatic career, until a few months ago González Urrutia was a complete unknown in the country. He was born in La Victoria, Aragua state, on August 29, 1949, and has two daughters; one of them lives in Madrid.
He studied International Studies at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). Between 1991 and 1993 he was Venezuela’s ambassador to Algeria and between 1998 and 2002 he was ambassador to Argentina. During that time he represented the governments of former presidents Rafael Caldera and Hugo Chávez, who left Maduro as his political heir.
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