Edmundo González makes his penultimate campaign stop in Zulia

Presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia arrived in Zulia state on Tuesday for his penultimate campaign event ahead of the July 28 elections.

The candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) held a meeting with the governor of this oil-producing region, opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, and with four mayors of Zulia who have expressed their support for his candidacy, which leads the voting intention, according to traditional pollsters.

In a brief comment to journalists, González Urrutia stressed that Zulia is a “key state” in these elections, as it is the “most important electoral circuit in the country” in terms of the number of voters, close to three million.

He said that the PUD hopes to obtain a “resounding” victory in this border region with Colombia, considered a bastion of anti-Chavezism, “which will contribute to the triumph” of his candidacy this Sunday, when 21.6 million Venezuelans are called to the polls.

People linked to González’s campaign event arrested

González Urrutia and Machado were to lead the caravan this afternoon in Maracaibo, however the Venezuelan State security forces arrested six people who had been hired as transport and sound workers.

The coordinator of the regional team, Gustavo Ruiz, explained to journalists that a police force, as yet unidentified, detained these people, who were travelling in two trucks, which were “retained” by the authorities.

The vehicles, he continued, were intended to transport a sound system and González Urrutia, along with opposition leader María Corina Machado, during the caravan that is planned for this afternoon in the oil city of Maracaibo, capital of Zulia.

Ruiz said that Machado, who is banned from flying in the country, “has had a whole series of problems along the way” from Caracas to Maracaibo, some 520 kilometers away by road, as she has traveled to all her rallies and political activities in the last 10 years.