Edmundo González and María Corina Machado were together for the first time in a mobilization in the streets of Venezuela. Both leaders called on their supporters this Saturday in La Victoria, González's hometown, located about 95 kilometers by car from Caracas.
The opposition candidate González said on Saturday that he will guarantee “in peace” the participation of all political parties, if he wins the July 28 elections in which he will face President Nicolás Maduro and called on the armed forces to fulfill their role. fundamental.
González, a former diplomat in Algeria and Argentina, was named as a candidate by the opposition Unitarian Platform coalition in April, after the opposition leader María Corina Machado,
winner of the primaries, the Supreme Court of Justice will ratify in January a ban on competing and holding public office.
“To those who still believe in the government, I guarantee a peaceful alternation in which all political forces will be able to exercise their rights within the framework of the Constitution,” said González, 74, riding on a truck that served as a platform next to with Machado and other leaders in a rally of about 3,000 people in La Victoria.
González urged voters to imagine a country “in which the president does not insult or see his adversaries as enemies.
The opposition has said that Machado's disqualification is illegal and an attempt by the Maduro government, whose administration has generated a deep economic crisis in the country, to silence the opponents.
“To the national armed force you play a fundamental role in the security of all, being guarantors of its institutionality as stated in article 328 of the Constitution,” added the candidate of the opposition coalition.
Leaders of other opposition parties such as Primero Justicia, Voluntad Popular and Un Nuevo Tiempo were also at the event along with González and Machado, showing the unity of the opposition coalition, which in the past has shown signs of fractures and misgivings among its leaders. what has been
taken advantage of by the government, according to analysts.
“I would leave the country”
González, a virtual unknown to most of the country until last April and who said this month that he believes the Maduro government would have already disqualified him if it had intended to do so, has held meetings in Caracas with political parties, families of political prisoners , of the LGBTQ+ community, among others, since his appointment.
Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer, identified as a likely winner by pollsters before her disqualification was confirmed, has continued to hold rallies in
across the country, now urging voters to support González by showing his face on a poster.
“I would leave the country, I couldn't stand this anymore,” said Marian Tesorero, 22, when asked what she will do if the opposition doesn't win the presidential election.
González will appear on the ballot for three opposition parties, while Maduro, who is seeking his third re-election, will run with 13 organizations.
A recent poll by Consultores 21 showed that 50% of voters plan to back González, and 32% are in favor of Maduro. The survey had a margin of error of 3.16%.
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) also called for a rally in La Victoria on Saturday, in support of Maduro, broadcast on the state television channel. The number 2 of the government and vice president of the ruling party Diosdado Cabello said that the opposition's “perverse project against the country” will be defeated.
