Caracas Chronicles

Edmundo González Urrutia has become used to having entourages of academics, politicians, journalists and activists visit his apartment in southeast Caracas every day. A former diplomat during much of Venezuela’s democratic period, González Urrutia never expected to become a political celebrity at 74 years old. He was thrust into the opposition candidacy, almost accidentally, when he agreed to be the “placeholder” candidate of the Democratic Unity Table (MUD) card. Today, he is the candidate of the consensus of the different forces of the Unitary Platform and of the banned winner of the October opposition primaries, María Corina Machado—the politician with the highest approval rate in the country. 

Now, transformed into the neutral meeting point of an increasingly larger opposition coalition—after Machado’s original proxy was blocked from running by the National Electoral Council and a short-lived candidacy attempt by Manuel Rosales—polls show that González Urrutia could beat Chavismo with a landslide victory in July 28th. Will this soft-spoken former ambassador, little known until yesterday, become the Corazon Aquino or the Patricio Aylwin of our transition to democracy? We interviewed him at his house:

Ambassador, it’s the day after the July 28th election and you are president elect. What would you do if the State institutions block you from assuming the presidency or if they try to transform the presidency into something merely decorative, in a situation similar to what happened with Arévalo in Guatemala recently?

Well, that’s a terrifying scenario, but one we’ve considered. In reality, we are of the idea that on July 28^th, a new political space opens in Venezuela, and it has already opened one in which the Unitary Platform will be the winner of this electoral process and will begin the path to reconstruction. In that time, we will oil all the plans we have for the re-institutionalization of the country. And we hope that in January 2025 we will be ready to take office by being sworn in before the National Assembly.

So, you conceive a period of approximately six months of arduous negotiations.

Yes. But we hope that the political reality that will emerge on July 28^th advances any situation and any space for negotiation with the government. That is actually something that we believe can happen.

If you are able to assume the presidency, how will you deal with the rest of the institutions that remain in control of Chavismo while the armed forces are a stratum of their own and there are non-state actors that often have closeness or alliances with sectors of Chavismo?

Well, that’s what international observation is for. So that they come to attest to the electoral process that will culminate that day and that the transfer of the government is carried out in total normality. That is our aspiration. We have the support of the international community to ensure and guarantee a transfer of command, in accordance with the guidelines that are established.

I see that the whole issue of negotiations and the presence of the international community and its influence is crucial in terms of this vision. But in Venezuela we are seeing various types of negotiations, even within the opposition itself, even between the opposition and Chavismo, between Chavismo and the United States, other regional actors, the European Union. Have you been in conversations with sectors of the government, sectors of Chavismo regarding the day after?

The negotiations, the conversations that are taking place between the Unitary Platform and the government are led by Dr. Gerardo Blyde. All of them within the framework of the agreements that have been signed between the two parties. That is the formal channel of discussion and negotiation between the Unitary Platform and the government. Once the elections are over and that period has occurred, the international community will also play an important role. There are the proposals that the president of Colombia has advanced for a kind of plebiscite to guarantee [rights for the loser]. And there are other national actors that have moved forward hoping to achieve a normal transition in Venezuela.

What other instances would be those that you mention?

Well, there is a document that was presented by a dissident figure of Chavismo. One who was a minister in the Chávez government and who is aiming for a pact of democratic coexistence. We are analyzing that agreement and I suppose he must have turned it over to the authorities.

But you do not have information on whether these proposals are being considered on the other side.

No, we don’t know.

When you talk about a re-institutionalization process, for you what should it encompass? For example, would you consider calling a constituent assembly in Venezuela?

It’s a scenario. But when I tell you about democratic re-institutionalization in Venezuela, I am referring to the functioning of public powers with absolute independence. I am referring to full liberty of freedom of expression. I am referring to the release of all political prisoners. So that there is no prisoner in Venezuela for reasons of conscience. Those are the things that point to seeking a reunion between the Venezuelan family, the great Venezuelan family, where you are not persecuted for your political conceptions.

And considering these transition processes, peace processes, political dialogue, have you considered or have you and your team considered transitional justice plans or creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as Chile did after Pinochet or as South Africa did after apartheid?

As Argentina did after the military governments. That is what is called transitional justice and we have teams that are working in those scenarios, that are analyzing it and are taking the experiences of other governments, other countries with similar situations and in which transitional justice did what it has to do to achieve the reconciliation.

What organizations or figures are leading these proposals on your team?

They are the highly respected professional teams, university professors, deans of law schools who are helping us create that framework of transitional justice.

And in a transition period, following Petro’s proposal or even these peaceful coexistence agreements, would you be willing to reach an agreement on power quotas with Chavismo in a transitional government?

I don’t know if power quotas would be the best term, but obviously a dialogue –if we are talking about dialogue between Venezuelans– can also include the government and even more so if we are seeking a reunion and pacification of the country.

On the day after, in which these two large blocs that have marked the political life of the country in the last 25 years will undoubtedly continue to exist, how do you plan to keep the opposition united to walk the path towards full democracy?

The Venezuelan democratic opposition agreed with all the forces that make up the Unitary Platform on the choice of a unitary candidate. If we did it at that moment, if we all manage to understand each other with a single candidacy, we will have a single government program, we will have a single vision of the country we want. Towards that we will aim for all the political forces.

Aren’t you afraid that the different parties that exist in the Unitary Platform, for example, even those that are outside, seek control of certain institutions?

If we are tired of something in these 25 years, it is those types of political scenarios of power quotas, insults, and degradation of politics. We affirm ourselves in the rule of law, in that justice does what it has to do and that we move towards a free and democratic country and the reunion of justice. And the reunion of all Venezuelans, without exception, where there are no prisoners due to their ideological position. Look, I was at a meeting with the relatives of the political prisoners and the stories of those people were somewhat horrifying. The stories, experiences of the family members, of all the suffering that they have gone through in this. All of that is what we must end. All that.

Another question about the day after: In what role do you see María Corina Machado in your government?

She will assume a role as a fundamental leader of the opposition, who obtained the largest vote in the primary elections and who could have occupied this presidential candidacy if the government’s maneuvers hadn’t prevented it.

You’re a career diplomat, a profession that is practically extinct today in Venezuela. And just like Professor Corina Yoris, in a certain way, by winning the presidency you would represent the return of the professional class to the State. In the process of re-institutionalization of the country’s institutions and public companies, are you planning to open the doors to a whole new legion of professionals and people with perhaps more technocratic visions?

Yes, of course. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is the body in charge of Venezuela’s international policy, is on the ground. The diplomatic career as such—where one entered through competitive examination as I and thousands of others, dozens of colleagues, did—does not exist since 2005. With that I want to point out that this entire period has passed without professionals entering through the competition. Fidelity to a political color is now enough for you to enter the race and perform professionally. That is what we aspire to recompose in a government of national unity.

How do you identify yourself ideologically?

I have never had membership in any political party. I always considered that as a State official I did not need a political color. That allowed me to easily serve in politically important positions within the Ministry. I was an ambassador for President Chávez, I was an ambassador for President Caldera, I was an ambassador abroad for President Pérez. And I held important positions in the Foreign Ministry in the previous governments of Lusinchi, Herrera Campins, etc. Therefore, as a professional of diplomacy, you have to represent the State, not a particular political party.

What would be the economic vision of your government?

Well, the vision that democratic unity has is reflected in the government program presented by María Corina Machado, Tierra de Gracia, and it is also in a document that the democratic unity developed on the bases for a common minimum program. There you can find the broad lines of what will be the economic action of the new government.

That is to say, your transition government would consider, for example, requesting funds or loans from multilateral organizations to help Venezuela?

Look, Venezuela’s economic drama is of an impressive magnitude. Huge resources are going to be needed here and the only ones who have that possibility of doing so are international organizations. So, we are already working, fine-tuning our numbers to go to international organizations with a complete package of the needs that the new government will have.

And in terms of energy, is your team considering among its proposals and plans ways to deal, for example, with the environmental and social consequences of the Orinoco Mining Arc or with redirecting our energy production towards renewable energies?

Not only that, but we are aiming to rescue Venezuela’s position as a reliable and safe supplier of hydrocarbons and oil. That is one of the fundamental objectives and within that framework the environmental issue plays a relevant role. We must preserve the environment.

If you assumed the presidency in January, do you see that government as a shortened transitional government that would call presidential elections again in a short term or would you see it as a full term?

Well, that will depend on the negotiations that are made with the other parties once we are there in government. This opens up a range of options that includes what you are talking about. Others speak of a constituent assembly, others speak of a shortening of the presidential term. In short, we are going to study all these circumstances and put them into practice once we are in the government.