- 'Sleeper agent' bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says
- Death toll rises to 109 after Haiti gang attack, official says
- Tigers beat Guardians and on brink of advancing in MLB playoffs
- Argentina MPs back Milei's veto of university funding
- Man City sink Barca in Women's Champions League as Bayern outgun Arsenal
- Greek international Baldock, 31, found dead in pool: state agency
- Florida seaside haven a ghost town as hurricane nears
- Pharrell Williams to co-chair Met Gala exploring Black dandyism
- Wall Street indices hit fresh records as Chinese shares tumble
- Taiwan's president to deliver key speech for National Day
- Sea row on the menu as ASEAN leaders meet China's Li
- Injured Kane won't start England's Nations League clash with Greece
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Mozambique starts tallying votes in tense election
- Zelensky moves to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
- Zelensky to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Israel captain says 'difficult' to focus on football in time of war
- Macron to host Ukraine's Zelensky after meeting Ukrainian troops
- Root says 'many more to get' after England Test runs landmark
- India pile up World Cup high to rout Sri Lanka
- One year later, Israeli hostage family learns of loss
- Texans receiver Collins, Pats' safety Peppers out for NFL clash
- Biden-Netanyahu talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- Musk's X available again in Brazil after 40-day ban
- Reddy stars as India crush Bangladesh to clinch T20 series
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- Arch rivals Ghana, Nigeria drawn together in CHAN qualifying
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Trump lauds India's Modi as 'total killer'
- Wall Street, Europe rise as Chinese shares tumble
- Hunkering down for Hurricane Milton at Disney -- but first, a few rides
- Reddy, Rinku power India to 221-9 in second Bangladesh T20
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Time running out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
Venezuela's opposition candidate Gonzalez Urrutia: from placeholder to pointman
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a soft-spoken grandfather who eschews the spotlight, is the Venezuelan opposition's hope for unseating strongman Nicolas Maduro in July 28 presidential elections.
Miles ahead in opinion polls in a country beset by economic hardship and worsening political repression, according to rights groups, the 74-year-old accepted the role reluctantly.
There was little choice.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who polls as Venezuela's most popular politician by far, was disqualified from the race by courts loyal to Maduro, who is seeking a third term.
The hands-down winner of an opposition primary last year, she is accused of corruption -- charges widely dismissed as bogus.
Replacement candidates, too, were barred or pulled out, and in April, Gonzalez Urrutia accepted a last-minute inscription as a placeholder candidate for the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) opposition coalition.
As Machado's hopes to return to the ticket were thwarted, he went from being a stand-in to the actual opposition candidate.
"I never, never, never imagined I would be in this position, but that is secondary to the challenge ahead," the political analyst and former ambassador to Algeria and Argentina told AFP shortly after his nomination.
"This is my contribution to the democratic cause... This is my contribution to unity, to the struggle for a democratic transition."
- 'Servant of the Republic' -
Unassuming Gonzalez Urrutia does not have the sparkle of 56-year-old Machado, who is received like a rock star wherever she travels to campaign for him.
Nor does he enjoy the state-sponsored ubiquity of Maduro, who spreads his populist message from public TV, graffiti on building facades, T-shirts, even dolls in his likeness.
For Jose Toro Hardy, an economist and political analyst with the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas, Gonzalez Urrutia is the antithesis of Maduro "and the traditional politician."
The opposition candidate is also different to the stocky but sprightly Maduro in other ways: he walks slowly, expresses himself reservedly and has a slight hand tremor.
Public speaking is not his forte, and Gonzalez Urrutia tends to stick to prepared scripts delivered in a monotone voice.
He much prefers that the cameras and microphones point at the charismatic Machado, who has traveled the country to beat the drum for her replacement -- by car as she is banned from flying.
Described by those who know him as "decent," "intelligent" and a "democrat," Gonzalez Urrutia is credited with building the opposition coalition into what it is today. He has worked to this end quietly, behind the scenes, for the last 16 years.
Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, a former secretary of the coalition group, has described the reluctant leader as "a servant of the republic."
Gonzalez Urrutia insists he has no personal aspirations and still refers to Machado as "the leader of the opposition."
One of his life's pleasures, he has said, is to chat from his balcony with two of his four grandchildren who live in a neighboring apartment in Caracas.
He also loves feeding the exotic birds that visit him there.
Then, overnight, he was thrust into the chaos of a campaign that has seen opponents to Maduro's government sidelined, arrested, even jailed.
A small sacrifice for a greater good, he said in the April interview: "We must all fight for Venezuela's recovery and transition. That is what's fundamental."
- 'Prepared for all scenarios' -
Born and raised in La Victoria, a small city some 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Caracas, Gonzalez Urrutia studied international relations at the Central University of Venezuela in the capital.
He joined the foreign ministry and was posted to Belgium and Washington before becoming ambassador.
He has written several books on Venezuela and is an avid reader of political texts. Samuel P Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" and Henry Kissinger's "On China" are among the titles on his bookshelf at home.
On the campaign, Gonzalez Urrutia has stuck to a moderate political discourse, making frequent calls for reconciliation and even alluding to possible amnesties in case of a political transition.
As president, he told AFP, he would work to "bring Venezuelans together (and for) the return of political exiles" followed by "the recovery of the economy and of democracy."
But he conceded the road there may be bumpy.
The opposition, the candidate said, was "prepared for all scenarios" in the July 28 vote against the backdrop of a regime that views challengers "not as adversaries, but enemies."
D.Cunningha--AMWN