By Alessandra Freitas, NCS
In the weeks following the US navy seize of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the world’s consideration turned to who was finest positioned to run a nation that had spent 13 years underneath his authoritarian regime.
Since Maduro’s unceremonious ouster at the fingers of US particular forces on January 3, the proper to succeed him has been claimed by: Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, at the moment sworn in as appearing president with the obvious help of US President Donald Trump; Trump himself, who has beforehand claimed to be “in charge” of Venezuela; and the Venezuelan opposition, with chief María Corina Machado saying final month that her coalition ought to lead the nation. Machado received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for combating a tumultuous election that landed her at the high of Maduro’s most-wanted checklist.
Yet one key voice has been absent from the middle stage: Edmundo González Urrutia – the man who stood in for Machado in the 2024 presidential election after she was barred from coming into and who, based on each the opposition and several other Western nations together with the United States, really won the vote.
Since that disputed election, Machado’s worldwide profile has skyrocketed – thanks not solely to her daring escape from Venezuela when she traveled to Norway to gather her Nobel Prize, however her subsequent gifting of the award to Trump when she met him at the White House in January. She is the one who has been participating instantly with US officers as the opposition tries to safe its place in post-Maduro Venezuela.
González, in the meantime, has stayed largely out of public view altogether. So, what occurred to him?
A person of few phrases
Living in exile in Spain since late 2024, González has remained largely quiet since the US operation that ousted Maduro. He launched a statement the day after the assault — when Machado was nonetheless silent — saying the second was “an important step, but not enough” and calling for the launch of political prisoners.
Since then, he hasn’t stated a lot on the power transitions in Venezuela, as an alternative focusing on the liberating of these prisoners – a matter near his coronary heart as his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in jail by Venezuelan authorities throughout Maduro’s presidency.
Following Tudares’ release alongside dozens of different political prisoners, on the orders of Rodríguez in what the Venezuelan authorities stated was a “peace” gesture, González made one of his few public feedback on the 2024 election in an interview with Fox Noticias, wherein he stated, “More than 7 million Venezuelans voted for our candidacy, and it is from that reality that the process of democratic normalization in Venezuela must begin.”
That apart, since the election, he has been a man of few phrases – as, certainly, he at all times has been.
A retired diplomat who served as Venezuela’s ambassador to Algeria and Argentina, he is much more comfy negotiating behind the scenes. In truth, he was not the first, second, and even third selection of the opposition coalition referred to as the Democratic Unitary Platform. After the Maduro regime barred Machado, each tutorial Corina Yoris and former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales have been thought of as attainable replacements.
González grew to become the final resort for the opposition to submit a poll inside the electoral deadline.
“The fact that he’s had this low profile has been actually a very positive thing for the opposition. And it’s why he was chosen, because he wasn’t polarizing, and he was much less likely to be blocked,” stated Inter-American Dialogue President and CEO Rebecca Bill Chavez. “It was a quality that helped the opposition. But it’s also one of the reasons why he’s less visible today.”
Those near González’s circle know he by no means actually wished the presidency – as he himself has acknowledged on many events. “I never imagined I would find myself in this situation,” he informed Venezuelan media in late April of 2024, shortly after his candidature was formalized.
It was shortly after that remark that a portrait by Bloomberg photographer Gaby Oraa went viral, displaying him feeding wild colourful macaws recognized in Venezuela as guacamayas. And so, the final hope for the opposition rapidly grew to become the picture of a beloved grandfather for voters.
Experts say there is a political technique behind González staying on the sidelines. “Political movements, in general, tend to project one clear political voice. And right now, it’s Machado,” stated Chavez.
“The fact that she won the Nobel Prize is a big piece of it. At the same time, I think it’s important to recognize that he is central to the opposition’s democratic legitimacy. He’s the one who holds the electoral mandate.”
That considering is presumably why Machado so typically makes use of “we” in her statements, although that is not sufficient to cease some voters from questioning why they hear so little from the man they contemplate the true president-elect.
And it’s not simply that González is so quiet, it’s that even the key gamers typically act as if he doesn’t exist. Take Trump, as an illustration. The US president has had a lot to say about each Rodríguez and Machado – from claiming the Nobel laureate wasn’t “respected” sufficient in Venezuela to imagine power, to saying later in January that he was considering involving the Venezuelan opposition “in some way” in the nation’s management.
But Trump has been remarkably quiet about González, and it stays unclear what the subsequent steps in the transition in Venezuela will probably be. In an interview with NBC News launched on February 12, Rodríguez stated Venezuela can have “fair and free” elections however didn’t present timeline.
An opposition divided
Despite González’s personal seeming desire to avoid the highlight, the selection comes with a value.
“The opposition has basically been divided for about a couple of decades into two groups. The essential difference has not been ideological; it’s been over strategy,” Venezuela analyst for the International Crisis Group Phil Gunson, who has been residing in Caracas for over 20 years and is aware of González personally, informed NCS.
Those who’re extra hardline, akin to Machado, imagine in additional aggressive political motion – akin to mass mobilization and protests – and have much less religion in elections, whereas moderates like González lean towards taking benefit of any political openings that exist, together with elections.
“Politically, Edmundo is moderate. He doesn’t belong to the same part of the opposition as (Machado),” Gunson stated. After González went into exile and Machado went into hiding following the 2024 vote, that relationship grew to become extra difficult.
“She’s the one making all the decisions. She’s the one giving the orders. She’s the one putting out the statements. And often, she’s putting out statements in his name or in the name of the two of them, and he finds out after these statements have come out,” Gunson stated. “She is rather autocratic in her political style.”
According to Gunson, who was once neighbors with González, Machado likes to have all the selections made by her and her shut circle. “And (González) is just not part of the close circle,” he informed NCS.
In Washington, the place Machado is well-known on either side of the political aisle, the official data middle for Venezuela carries the names of each Machado and González. “They claim to be representing him, but they’re not. They don’t consult him,” Gunson stated.
Meanwhile, midway throughout the world, in Madrid, González is surrounded by many Venezuelan exiles who need extra aggressive political motion. “His position is not comfortable,” Gunson stated. “He’s geographically isolated from the decision-making. He’s very much kind of a prisoner of the sort of things that (Machado) says.”
For Gunson, that dynamic is unlikely to vary. As somebody who by no means actually wished the presidency in the first place, González finds himself quietly taking part in the function that was assigned to him: the figurehead who offers the opposition a sense of legitimacy.
“We should see this as a sacrifice that he’s made because he felt that it was his duty to do that,” Gunson stated.
“But even now, he probably doesn’t dream of ever becoming president.”
The-NCS-Wire
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