González Urrutia bets on a Venezuela without handouts

Presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia said on Friday that he will work to build the Venezuela he “wants,” in which citizens will not need to “resort to handouts,” if he wins the elections on July 28.

In his first street event in Caracas, the former ambassador spoke with community leaders from the Santa Rosalía parish, an area considered a bastion of Chavismo, which will seek to maintain the power it has held since 1999, with the candidacy of Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking a third consecutive term.

“I want a country without violence, where one can sleep in peace, where one does not have to resort to handouts. We want to build a society for everyone, one of solidarity like the one you expressed here, a Venezuela of entrepreneurs,” said the 74-year-old opposition leader, quoted in a press release.

The event was the candidate’s second contact with citizens, following his debut in mass events last Saturday with a rally in the city of La Victoria – his birthplace – some 90 kilometers from Caracas.

After speaking with the Caracas residents, the anti-Chavez leader described Maduro’s government as “disastrous” and reiterated his promise to build a country in which “the president does not insult” and in which “political adversaries are seen as adversaries and not as enemies.”