In this file photo Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia Thumbs up to supporters next to his wife, Mercedes López, during an activity with Venezuelan citizens in Lima on January 29, 2025. (Photo by CONNIE FRANCE CALDERON MARTEL / AFP)
January 3, 2026
Macron says Venezuela’s Gonzalez Urrutia should lead post-Maduro transition
PARIS, France (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said that 2024 presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia should lead a peaceful transition in Venezuela, adding its people “could only rejoice” at the removal by the US of President Nicolas Maduro.
“The Venezuelan people are today rid of the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro,” Macron wrote on X after Maduro was captured by US forces. “We hope that President Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, elected in 2024, will be able to ensure this transition as quickly as possible,” he added.
Gonzalez Urrutia was widely considered the rightful victor of Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, but Maduro was proclaimed the winner, sparking deadly riots that were brutally repressed.
