Edmundo Urrutia, opposition candidate for President of Venezuela, stated that other South American leaders supported the coalition ticket
The opposition candidate to Nicolás Maduro in the Venezuelan elections, Edmundo González Urrutia, affiliated with the PUD (Democratic Unitary Platform), told the El País that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Colombian president Gustavo Petro (Colombia Humana–left) helped launch his candidacy.
Urrutia is Maduro’s main rival and his candidacy represents the opposition coalition to the government, the MUD (Democratic Unity Table). He was chosen unanimously by the parties that make up the coalition.
According to the candidate, he is in contact with the 2 countries and Lula and Petro would have demonstrated “interest and responsibility” about a “guarantee plan” for the elections. The election in the neighboring country is scheduled for July 24 this year.
On Tuesday (April 23), Lula praised the Venezuelan opposition for supporting a single ticket. The Brazilian president also stated that all parties should respect the results of the elections. “It’s an extraordinary thing, it came together and presented a single candidate”said Lula during a coffee with journalists at Palácio do Planalto.
NICOLAS MADURO
The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, 61 years old, heads an autocratic regime with no guarantees of fundamental freedoms. He keeps, for example, people imprisoned for what he considers “political crimes”.
There are also restrictions described in reports from the OAS (on the “illegitimate appointment” of the National Electoral Council by an illegitimate National Assembly) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (from October 2022, November 2022 and March 2023).
