Edmundo González travels with his food to avoid new restaurant closures

The presidential candidate of Venezuela’s majority opposition, Edmundo González Urrutia, began this Wednesday to Travel with your own food to campaign events ahead of the July 28 elections to avoid further closures of establishments following the government sanctioned a restaurant that served him last Sunday in Cojedes.

In a short video he shared on Instagram, the former ambassador showed a portable cooler in which he carries his food, while traveling by road to the state of Anzoátegui, where he will lead a caravan on Wednesday with opposition leader María Corina Machado.

“I’m leaving with my lunch to avoid situations like the one on Sunday, when they closed the restaurant because they served us so kindly,” said the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

González Urrutia – who leads the voting intention, according to traditional pollsters – denounced on Monday that the National Integrated Service of Customs and Tax Administration (Seniat) closed, for 14 working days (19 calendar days), the restaurant that served him the day before, when he was returning from a campaign event in the west of the country.

This case – he recalled then – “is added to others that demonstrate the disrespect of power towards Venezuelans,” in reference to another 16 establishments that – according to the opposition – were closed or inspected in recent weeks by the Executive, following receiving González Urrutia or Machado.

Among those sanctioned are hotels and restaurants, as well as independent workers who provided services to the opposition, such as boatmen, motorcyclists, sound technicians and drivers, who, in some cases, suffered temporary detentions, prohibition of sailing or blocking of work tools, alleging lack of documentation or records.