González Urrutia says the government “stole everything except the hope” for political change

Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia has accused the Chavista government, in power since 1999, of stealing everything in the country, “except the hope” of political change, which he hopes will materialize with his victory in the July 28 elections.

“Enough of so much theft (…), they stole everything, except the hope that will be manifested on July 28,” said the former ambassador in front of thousands of supporters who gathered in the state of Anzoátegui to listen to him, along with opposition leader María Corina Machado.

The candidate – supported by the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the main anti-Chavez coalition – reiterated that, if he wins the elections, in his government “there will be no political prisoners, nor persecuted journalists, nor disqualified ones,” like Machado, who might not compete in the elections due to a sanction from the Comptroller’s Office, despite having been elected in primaries.

“We will work from day one to stop people from living with blackouts. They (the Chavistas) destroyed the entire electrical infrastructure of this country,” the opposition leader continued, in a region that has been experiencing blackouts almost daily for more than 10 years.

In his opinion, it is “unbelievable” that in Venezuela, which has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, there are power outages and fuel shortages, while he considered that the intermittent supply of drinking water that is experienced in almost the entire country is due to an attempt by the Government to “humiliate” citizens.

“Enough of this mistreatment. They destroyed the oil industry that was a reference in the world, but we are going to recover that for the benefit of all Venezuelans,” he added.

González Urrutia, who is leading in voting intentions according to traditional pollsters, will face nine other candidates on July 28, including re-election candidate Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking a third consecutive six-year term.