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Excerpt from Voice of America
Venezuela opposition candidate asks Maduro to ‘step aside’
Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who has claimed he defeated Nicolas Maduro in last month’s election, said Monday he was ready to negotiate a transition — and asked the incumbent to “step aside.”
“Mr. Nicolas Maduro, respect what all Venezuelans have decided… You and your government should step aside… I am ready for dialogue,” Gonzalez Urrutia, a retired diplomat, said in a video message posted on social media.
“Every day that you hinder the democratic transition, Venezuelans suffer from a country in crisis, and without freedom. Clinging to power only makes the suffering of our people worse. Our time has come.”
Since the contested election, Gonzalez Urrutia and fellow opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running herself, have been in hiding as prosecutors have opened an investigation against both of them.
Gonzalez Urrutia has not been seen publicly in weeks, while Machado appeared at an opposition rally in Caracas on Saturday.
