Venezuela's political newcomer Edmundo González says it's his turn to rule

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Edmundo González has become a beacon of hope for millions of Venezuelans. They want to call him president. He believes he won that office at the ballot box last year. The government of President Nicolás Maduro says he did not.

The stakes for Friday’s swearing-in of the man who will govern Venezuela for the next six years have never been higher in this century.

González had never imagined he would be carrying the weight of the main opposition faction, the Unitary Platform coalition. He had not even run for office before the July election.

A virtually unknown grandfather less than a year ago, he now has heard tens of thousands of people chant his name as loudly as they screamed “Freedom! Freedom!” at rallies across the South American country.

But González has paid the price for challenging the 25-year rule of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Under pressure, he has gone into exile. And on Tuesday, he said son-in-law Rafael Tudares had been kidnapped in the capital, Caracas.

“At what point did being related to Edmundo González Urrutia become a crime?” his daughter, Mariana González de Tudares, said in a statement that suggested the government was behind her husband’s disappearance.

The coalition of main opposition parties, in a statement, characterized it as a “forced disappearance for political reasons.” The government’s centralized press office did not respond to a request for comment.

González, 75, had been enjoying retirement after a career as a diplomat when the coalition selected him in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado. She had been blocked by the Maduro-controlled Supreme Tribunal of Justice from running for office after she swept the opposition’s October 2023 primary with more than 90% of the vote.

González had just returned to Caracas from a trip to Europe when opposition leaders presented him with the idea of becoming a candidate.

Before González joined Machado on the campaign trail, she became his surrogate, introducing him as an honest family man while showing the crowds a banner with his headshot.

González had begun his professional career as an aide to Venezuela’s ambassador in the United States. He had other postings in Belgium and El Salvador and served as ambassador to Algeria. His last post was ambassador to Argentina during the first years of the government of Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor and mentor.

More recently, González worked as an international relations consultant, writing about recent political developments in Argentina and authoring a historical work on Venezuela’s foreign minister during World War II.

“I have never participated in partisan politics of positions of elected office,” he told The Associated Press in May. “I accepted it with enormous responsibility and as a contribution on my part to the democratization of the country, to the process of trying to seek the understanding, reconciliation, of Venezuelans.”

His years as a diplomat in El Salvador and Algeria coincided with periods of armed conflicts in both countries. For a time, his whereabouts were tracked by locals in El Salvador, and he would get calls at home meant to intimidate him.

His subdued tone and poker face, forged as a diplomat, go against the usual image in Venezuela of boisterous politicians. Maduro and his allies have taken his demeanor as a sign of weakness and chastised him on national TV.

“Coward,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Monday, alleging without giving evidence that the retired diplomat was a CIA agent. “He has neither courage nor disposition.”

The dueling claims for the presidency are rooted in the election results. Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed, but unlike in previous presidential elections, they did not provide detailed vote counts. However, the opposition collected tally sheets from more than 80% of electronic voting machines, posted them online and said they showed González had won with twice as many votes as Maduro.

The U.S.-based Carter Center, invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, has said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.

González left for exile in Spain in September after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with an investigation into the publishing of election results. The government last week announced a $100,000 reward for information on his whereabouts.

But he has vowed to return to his homeland to take the oath of office Friday. Meanwhile, the ruling-party controlled National Assembly is ready to welcome Maduro for the swearing-in that would extend his 11-year presidency to 2031.

González, who has been recognized by several governments including the U.S. as Venezuela’s president-elect, has not said how he plans to return or wrest power from Maduro, whose ruling party controls all aspects of government.

He has been touring the Americas to try to rally support ahead of Friday's ceremony, tapping his diplomatic skills.

On Monday, González met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House as well as with U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s designee to be national security adviser once Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.

Hours after announcing Tudares’ kidnapping on Tuesday, González said he would travel to Panama next.

“We continue,” he wrote on X.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez waves a Venezuelan flag during a meeting with supporters in Panama City, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

Edmundo Gonzalez, who represented Venezuela's main opposition coalition in the July presidential election, waves as he arrives to address a gathering of supporters outside of the Organization of American States, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A wanted sign of Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez is displayed on the list of departure flights at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, near Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez attends a campaign event before the election in Caracas, Venezuela, June 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez ride atop a truck during a protest against official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, July 30, 2024, two days after the vote. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by the Spanish government in Madrid, exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, left, walks with Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez outside the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Thursday Sept. 12, 2024. (Fernando Calvo, Spanish Government via AP, File)

Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, right, and Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou meet in Montevideo, Uruguay, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Gonzalez, who claims he won the 2024 presidential election and is recognized by some countries as the legitimate president-elect, traveled from exile in Madrid to Argentina and Uruguay. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, right, and Argentine President Javier Milei hold hands from the government house balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Gonzalez, who claims he won the 2024 presidential election and is recognized by some countries as the legitimate president-elect, traveled from exile in Madrid to Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A wanted poster of Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez covers a column at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, near Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, left, and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez hold up vote tally sheets from the top of a truck during a protest against the official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, July 30, 2024, two days after the election. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez, File)

Edmundo Gonzalez, who represented Venezuela's main opposition coalition in the July presidential election, addresses a gathering of supporters outside of the Organization of American States, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

West Ham hired Graham Potter as the coach on Thursday, a day after Julen Lopetegui was fired.

Potter has been out of management since he was fired by Chelsea in 2023 after just seven months in the job at Stamford Bridge. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract.

“It was important to me that I waited until a job came along that I felt was right for me, and equally that I was the right fit for the club I am joining. That is the feeling I have with West Ham United,” he said.

Potter takes over a team that has won only three of its last 11 games and is 14th in the standings, seven points above the relegation zone.

Former Real Madrid and Spain coach Lopetegui paid the price for that poor run when his departure was confirmed on Wednesday. He was hired last May to take the club to new heights after previous manager David Moyes ended West Ham's 43-year wait for a major trophy by winning the Europa Conference League in 2023.

The 49-year-old Potter said West Ham had “everything in place to become consistently successful, both on and off the pitch.”

"You don’t win a European trophy by fluke – there has to be a good bedrock at a football club for that to happen, and the challenge now is to take that on and build the next steps, to develop a team and a club that the supporters can be proud of,” he said.

Potter enjoyed an impressive rise after beginning his coaching career at Ostersunds in Sweden in 2011.

He took over at Swansea in 2018 and by 2022 was in charge of Premier League giant Chelsea after a stint at Brighton.

But his reputation took a hit at Chelsea, which was undergoing a turbulent period following the takeover by U.S. owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. He lasted just six months after a run of just seven wins from 22 league games.

West Ham said Potter was its “unanimous choice."

His first game will be on Friday at Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

West Ham's manager Julen Lopetegui looks on before the start of the English Premier League soccer match between West Ham United and Liverpool at the London Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

FILE - Chelsea's head coach Graham Potter celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, March 11, 2023.(AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)