Who is Edmundo González Urrutia, the candidate of the Unitary Platform in Venezuela?

(CNN Spanish) — Diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, 74, will be the presidential candidate of the Platform for Democratic Unity (PUD), a coalition that brings together the main parties and opposition leaders in Venezuela.

After weeks of uncertainty and rejected or disqualified aspirations, González became the official opposition candidate to face Nicolás Maduro, with the right to participate in the election on July 28 as the name to defend the electoral card.

Even the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo could not formalize the resignation of the governor of Julia Province, Manuel Rosales, who ran alongside his party. According to the account of the appointment of the table of democratic unity led by González Urrutia.

However, Un Nuevo Tiempo has until 12am on Tuesday, April 23 to make the change. The CNE on Saturday extended the period to 72 hours for candidates to turn in their applications.

The nomination of Rosales, who did not participate in the October opposition primaries won by María Corina Machado, led opposition forces to consider the idea of ​​negotiating to support a candidate and not break their unity.

Voyage of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia

Gonzalez Urrutia is a career Venezuelan diplomat, international analyst, he was a member of the international editorial board of El Nacional newspaper and part of the Democratic Unity Roundtable, a coalition that brought together the most important opposition parties before the formation of the PUD. , as Chairman of its Board of Directors.

He graduated as an internationalist from the Central University of Venezuela and completed a master's degree in international relations at the American University in Washington, DC. Fermin Toro Institute of Parliamentary Studies, A think tank where he is the coordinator of the International System Monitoring Working Group.

was born In 1949, between 1990 and 1991, Edmundo González was director of the Strategic Planning and Coordination Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was then Ambassador to Algeria between 1991 and 1993 during the mandates of Carlos Andrés Pérez and Ramos José. He later served as Director General of International Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1998. He was then Ambassador to Argentina between 1998 and 2002, appointed by President Rafael Caldera and held the position during the first years of Hugo Chávez's mandate.

This is how Gonzalez came to the final nomination

Edmundo González was already registered as a provisional candidate with the National Electoral Council (CNE), and neither Maria Corina Machado, who later won the opposition primaries in October, nor Machado's replacement, Corina Yoris, could register.

Published by Machado A message on X After the decision on Gonzalez was known. “Venezuela, we're moving forward!” Yoris, for his part, accepted his pledge count Their support for the decision.

On April 20, Machado posted a video on social networks in which he celebrated that the opposition already had “a candidate supported worldwide.” “Today we have taken a big step,” he said.

Venezuela's presidential election will be held on July 28.

With information from Osmary Hernández and Marlon Sorto.