Politics/News
Edmundo González condemns misogynistic verbal attacks against Dinorah Figuera and defends women in politics
The Venezuelan opposition figure stressed that political debate must not use gender as a tool for degradation, following verbal insults directed at the parliamentarian.
On October 3, 2026, opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia publicly condemned the use of gender as a mechanism for disqualification and debasement in political debate, following verbal insults leveled against Dinorah Figuera, head of the 2015 National Assembly.
According to consulted sources, the incident unfolded after political analyst Esteban Gerbasi utilized sexually charged slurs to attack Figuera during an interview, questioning her willingness to engage in political dialogue and accusing her of compromising core values and principles. In response, González emphasized that public discourse should devote less effort to demonstrating whether a targeted woman deserves an insult and focus instead on why it remains so easy to assault women on the basis of their gender. He noted that repudiating such hostility directed at leaders such as Figuera, María Corina Machado, or Delsa Solórzano does not depend on proving their personal virtues or solidarity, but on rejecting attacks rooted in their condition as women.
The leadership of the Primero Justicia political party, represented by its president María Beatriz Martínez and training vice president Paola de Alemán, firmly condemned the aggression, categorizing the remarks as unacceptable, denigrating, and misogynistic. Concurrently, the Plataforma Unitaria Democrática expressed its institutional support for Figuera, demanding that political discrepancies be settled through substantive proposals and ideas rather than sexist verbal attacks.
This debate aligns with broader concerns regarding the climate faced by female politicians in Venezuela. Research presented on September 29, 2026, by the non-governmental organization Laboratorio de Paz revealed that all twenty-three women leaders surveyed perceived an intense, disproportionate scrutiny over their private lives compared to their male counterparts, highlighting systemic obstacles to political participation.
González Urrutia served as the unified opposition candidate in the 2024 presidential elections. Figuera heads the National Assembly elected in 2015, while Gerbasi works as a political analyst.
