SABANA DE MENDOZA, Venezuela (AP) 鈥 At an intersection packed in four directions, rallygoers scream and light up cellphones in the evening as Venezuelan opposition figure Mar铆a Corina Machado climbs onto a flatbed truck like a presidential candidate.
She has been barred from . Still, she crisscrosses the country, shaking hands, taking selfies, blowing kisses and promising the defeat of President Nicol谩s Maduro 鈥 all as a surrogate for a quiet former diplomat who has not yet begun to campaign.
鈥淢ar铆a Corina! Mar铆a Corina!鈥 the people yell, sometimes in unison, in the small Andean foothill town of Sabana de Mendoza. Their cheers are deafening.
Machado鈥檚 challenge is whether she can translate her fame and charisma into votes for Edmundo Gonz谩lez Urrutia, who was chosen by the chief opposition coalition after Machado was unable to overcome .
鈥淚 don鈥檛 remember what his name is,鈥 seamstress Danis Cegarra, 48, said of Gonz谩lez while she waited with her two children for Machado. 鈥淎lthough we don鈥檛 know much about him, we are going to support him. Well, I am going to support him, because I want a change above all because I have children.鈥
Gonz谩lez is the third candidate that the Unitary Platform opposition coalition has promoted as its own this year.
Machado, a former lawmaker, entered 2024 as the group鈥檚 candidate after , but a top court loyal to Venezuela's ruling party affirmed an administrative decision to ban her from office. She appointed a substitute in March, former academic Corina Yoris, who also was barred. Four days later, the coalition picked Gonz谩lez.
Machado, a free-market proponent who has been , is now introduced as 鈥渙pposition leader鈥 instead of candidate at her rallies. Gonz谩lez, 74, has not yet appeared at rallies together with Machado. He will officially launch his campaign Saturday, though he gave a brief address Thursday to supporters with the characteristic subdued tone of a diplomat.
鈥淗e seems to be a very quiet, consensus-based diplomat. Mar铆a Corina is out there on the stump fire breathing,鈥 said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 鈥淗er job is to bring out people to vote for Edmundo, but it will be interesting to see what he鈥檚 like if he ever goes out there because it鈥檚 going to be quite a character mismatch to see him next to her."
Gonz谩lez began his career as an aide to Venezuela鈥檚 ambassador in the U.S. in the late 1970s. He had postings in Belgium and El Salvador and served as Caracas鈥 ambassador to Algeria.
His last post was as ambassador to Argentina during the first years of the presidency of Hugo Ch谩vez, who came to power in 1999 and transformed Venezuela with socialist policies like nationalizing industries and launching welfare programs. Ch谩vez handpicked Maduro to replace him before dying of cancer in 2013.
More recently, Gonz谩lez worked as an international relations consultant and wrote a historical work on Venezuela during World War II.
He told The Associated Press last week
Gonz谩lez, appearing Thursday before several dozen supporters and leaders of the opposition in Caracas, spoke of a nation dedicated to provide education, healthcare and employment to all citizens, regardless of their political leanings. Attendees chanted 鈥淧resident! President!鈥 and he said Venezuela would work toward 鈥渞econciliation鈥 starting July 29.
鈥淥nly united and organized can we overcome the obstacles as we have done until now,鈥 Gonz谩lez said at the headquarters of the Venezuelan College of Engineers. 鈥淭he Venezuela that is to come will be the country of opportunities.鈥
In Sabana de Mendoza, about two and half hours after Machado was scheduled to appear on a recent weekday, she delivered a fiery 20-minute, yes-we-can speech from the truck's roof. She spent one of those minutes talking about Gonz谩lez.
鈥淭his community is going to elect this person, Edmundo Gonz谩lez Urrutia, our candidate for the presidency,鈥 Machado said while holding a banner with Gonz谩lez鈥檚 headshot. 鈥淗e is a good man; he is an honest man. I ask all of you, who have accompanied me and have given me your trust and affection, that we vote firmly and safely for a man who will do a great job.鈥
Machado has not only helped to unify the fractured, personality-driven opposition, her campaigning has drawn the attention 鈥 and rivalry 鈥 of the ruling party.
At least twice in the past month, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela has held rallies on the same day and the same community where Machado was expected to address supporters.
Gonz谩lez鈥檚 headshot will appear three times in the July 28 ballot, one for each party he will officially represent. Meanwhile, the headshot of Maduro, , will appear 13 times.
Maduro鈥檚 11-year presidency has been marked by a social, political and economic crisis that obliterated the middle class, pushed millions into poverty and Under his watch, , settling primarily in Latin America and Caribbean countries.
are evident along a country road that leads to Sabana de Mendoza. Abandoned homes and businesses stretch for several hundred meters. Shuttered gas stations are rusting. People fan themselves because there is no electricity for an air cooler.
Herm贸genes Alvarado, 56, an unemployed truck driver, said he will vote for 鈥渢he other鈥 candidate, Gonz谩lez, even if he knows next to nothing about him. He said he thinks anyone other than Maduro will bring back jobs to his community.
But next to Alvarado while waiting for a gas station to open, Moises Mendoza, 29, said he is not so certain about Machado鈥檚 replacement. The maker of maracas, hammocks and ceramics does not see his vote as automatically transferable. For him, staying home on Election Day is an option.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know who Edmundo is, and I imagine that people with the opposition are going to support him to be able to remove this government,鈥 Mendoza said. 鈥淚f he doesn鈥檛 convince me, I won鈥檛 vote.鈥
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