{"id":43998,"date":"2024-05-06T09:32:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T09:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/06\/meet-the-candidate-challenging-venezuelas-authoritarian-president\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T09:32:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T09:32:53","slug":"meet-the-candidate-challenging-venezuelas-authoritarian-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/06\/meet-the-candidate-challenging-venezuelas-authoritarian-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Candidate Challenging Venezuela\u2019s Authoritarian President"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/06\/multimedia\/06venezuela-opposition-promo\/06venezuela-opposition-top-hjtk-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Meet the Candidate Challenging Venezuela\u2019s Authoritarian President\" title=\"Meet the Candidate Challenging Venezuela\u2019s Authoritarian President\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The day Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez was plucked from obscurity and chosen to take on South America\u2019s longest ruling authoritarian leader, technicians were busy making sure his home was not wiretapped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis was not in our plans,\u201d his wife, Mercedes L\u00f3pez de Gonz\u00e1lez, said in an interview that day in April in their apartment in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Not long ago, Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez, 74, was a retired diplomat and grandfather of four with no political aspirations. He kept busy writing academic papers, speaking at conferences and taking his grandchildren to haircuts and music lessons. Few in his native Venezuela knew his name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, many Venezuelans have placed their hopes in him to end years of repressive rule as he challenges President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, who has held power since 2013, in elections scheduled in late July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez is suddenly back to having a full-time job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTwice a day I have to wipe the phone,\u201d he said in a brief interview. \u201cI delete almost 150 messages. I go to bed at 1 a.m., and by 4 a.m., I\u2019m back on my feet and working again. I never imagined this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After years of rigged elections and political persecution, people in Venezuela yearning for a return to democracy have learned to expect disappointment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A coalition of opposing parties, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, had been working to unite behind a single candidate who could pose a viable challenge to Mr. Maduro, but his government put up a series of obstacles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the end, Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez emerged as a candidate the government would not seek to block and who the opposition would support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He accepted the role, but friends and colleagues say it is one he had never prepared for. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEdmundo is not a man who\u2019s ever had any political ambitions,\u201d said Phil Gunson, a Venezuela expert for International Crisis Group in Caracas and a friend of Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s. \u201cHe\u2019s someone who is doing what he sees as his duty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some experts say his low profile could make it difficult for Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez to gain traction among voters, particularly outside Caracas, where information comes from government-controlled media that is unlikely to give his campaign much coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gonzalez, unlike other opposition leaders, has also not been openly critical of the Maduro government and its human rights record, which has raised concerns among some analysts who say holding officials accountable for abuses is crucial to restoring the rule of law to the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At home on the day he made it onto the ballot, Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez declined to speak at length about the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The youngest of three siblings, Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez was born to a family of modest means in the small city of La Victoria, about 50 miles west of Caracas. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a shopkeeper who discouraged him from his childhood dream of being a diplomat, calling it \u201ca profession for rich people,\u201d according to the candidate\u2019s daughter, Carolina Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Undeterred, he went on to study international relations at the Central University of Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In college he was a dedicated student, his classmate and longtime friend Imelda Cisneros recalled. It was a politically tumultuous time when a far-left communist ideology was becoming popular on campus and tensions were high.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez became a student leader \u201cwith a very calm approach of reconciliation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe wanted to be a diplomat,\u201d Ms. Cisneros added. \u201cHe was very clear about his objective from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He joined the foreign service not long after he graduated in 1970, with postings in Belgium, El Salvador and the United States, where he earned a master\u2019s degree in international affairs at American University in Washington.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He was later appointed ambassador to Algeria, and then to Argentina, where he was posted when Hugo Ch\u00e1vez was elected president in 1999. Mr. Ch\u00e1vez would go on to consolidate power under the banner of a socialist-inspired revolution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez returned to Venezuela in 2002 and soon retired from the foreign service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2008, he became active in a coalition of opposition parties called the Democratic Unity Roundtable, advising behind the scenes on matters of international relations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He became president of the coalition\u2019s board of directors in 2021, said Ram\u00f3n Guillermo Aveledo, a former executive secretary of the coalition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But most people, even in Venezuelans political circles, did not know he held that role until his presidential candidacy was announced because opposition leaders often face persecution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That makes it a risky decision for Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez to step into the spotlight against an incumbent bent on retaining power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m nervous because we don\u2019t know if something could happen to us,\u201d Ms. L\u00f3pez de Gonz\u00e1lez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those who know Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez say mounting a presidential campaign is not something he would take on lightly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe is an extremely balanced man, calm, quite serious and above all sober,\u201d said Ram\u00f3n Jos\u00e9 Medina, who headed the Democratic Unity Roundtable until 2014 and has been a friend of Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s for decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Maduro signed an agreement with the opposition in October to take steps toward free and fair elections, and the United States temporarily lifted some severe economic sanctions as a gesture of good will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Days later, a former national lawmaker, Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, won a primary election with more than 90 percent of the vote, making her a significant threat to Mr. Maduro in a head-to-head matchup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since then, the Maduro government has thrown up roadblocks to prevent a serious challenger from making it onto the ballot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">First, the country\u2019s top court <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/26\/world\/americas\/venezuela-election-opposition.html\" title=\"\">disqualified<\/a> Ms. Machado in January over what the judges claimed were financial irregularities that occurred when she was a national legislator \u2014 a common tactic used to keep viable competitors off the ballot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then last month, the government prevented an opposition coalition from putting forward another preferred candidate using technical electoral maneuvers just before the registration deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Only one politician, Manuel Rosales, who was seen by political analysts as greenlit by Mr. Maduro, was allowed to register. It briefly seemed that the effort to field a unified candidate had been defeated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, in a surprise, the coalition announced that the national electoral authority had granted it an extension, paving the way for Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez to officially enter the race. Mr. Rosales stepped aside and threw his support behind Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s career as a \u201cconsensus seeker\u201d helped him to unite the opposition, Mr. Gunson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe\u2019s someone that is acceptable to a lot of different people,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd he doesn\u2019t offend anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those qualities also may make it more likely that the Maduro government would cede power to him if he were to win, said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, an expert on Venezuela for the Inter-American Dialogue, a research organization in Washington.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Maduro, experts said, might be willing to concede defeat if he were granted amnesty for human rights abuses and if his party were given a continuing role in the country\u2019s political system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On this front, Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez has been more conciliatory than other candidates. Ms. Machado has said that Mr. Maduro and members of his administration should be held criminally responsible for corruption and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2024-04-24\/venezuelan-opposition-leader-says-he-d-be-open-to-talks-with-maduro?sref=0w5HLLb3\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said in interviews<\/a> that he is open to talking with the Maduro government to ensure a smooth transfer of power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHis main challenge is going to be maintaining that balance between keeping the opposition in line behind a unified candidacy and making sure that his candidacy does not pose an unbearable threat to the regime,\u201d Ms. Taraciuk Broner said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a very fine line.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1L6swKgLGjgx8xjeLe0YumwWzYynZ6hR3\/view\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">One poll<\/a> already shows him defeating Mr. Maduro, though the survey also shows that about one-third of respondents said they were not sure whom they would vote for and that roughly 20 percent said they would not vote for any candidate in the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Aveledo said he was hopeful that Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez could win over Venezuelans in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFinally, someone who speaks with serenity, with moderation, who thinks about problems and solutions, who speaks without shouting, without insulting,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause the country is very tired of conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/06\/world\/americas\/edmundo-gonzalez-venezuela-elections.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The day Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez was plucked from obscurity and chosen to take on South America\u2019s longest ruling authoritarian leader, technicians were busy making sure his home was not wiretapped. \u201cThis was not in our plans,\u201d his wife, Mercedes L\u00f3pez de Gonz\u00e1lez, said in an interview that day in April in their apartment in Caracas, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/06\/multimedia\/06venezuela-opposition-promo\/06venezuela-opposition-top-hjtk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25527,2309,6877,2485,2627,15506],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44000,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43998\/revisions\/44000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}