Leopoldo Lopez, one of the leading figures of the Venezuelan opposition and mentor to its leader, Juan Guaido, left the residence of the Spanish Ambassador in Caracas, in which he had been a refugee for ten years. eight months. He is now on his way to Spain.
“I can confirm that he left the embassy of his own free will and left in secret, clandestinely from Venezuela crossing the border with Colombia about two days ago.his father, Leopoldo Lopez Gil, MEP from the Spanish People’s Party (EPP, right) told Agence France-Presse (AFP). We hope he will be here tomorrow [dimanche]. “
“Maduro, you don’t control anything”, Juan Guaido launched on Twitter after the announcement of this departure. “We managed to send our Commissioner for the Center of Government, Leopoldo Lopez, to international territory, defying your repressive apparatus. “
Maduro, no controlas nada. Burlando tu aparato represivo, logramos sacar a territorio internacional a nuestro Comi… https://t.co/8E7mKNE2hW
No details have filtered out on the conditions of his departure from the diplomatic compound, located in an upscale neighborhood in the east of the Venezuelan capital. At midday Saturday, agents of the intelligence service (SEBIN) were deployed around the residence. Immediately, the government of Nicolas Maduro had not reacted publicly.
Sentenced to nearly fourteen years in prison
Leopoldo Lopez, 49, is one of the major figures in the opposition to Venezuelan socialist president Nicolas Maduro. He is regarded as the political mentor of Juan Guaido, whom nearly sixty countries recognize as interim president of Venezuela.
Former mayor of the municipality of Chacao (which belongs to the agglomeration of Caracas), Leopoldo Lopez was arrested in 2014 and spent nearly three years in prison, before being placed under house arrest in 2017.
He was thus to serve a sentence lasting nearly fourteen years, being accused of having incited demonstrations against the government of Nicolas Maduro, demonstrations which had left 43 dead and more than 3,000 injured.
On April 30, 2019, he appeared alongside insurgent soldiers and Juan Guaido, who called on the army to rise up against the socialist leader. That same evening, he took refuge with his wife, Lilian Tintori, and their daughter in the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, when the uprising had come to an end. His wife has since left Venezuela for Spain.
Before Leopoldo Lopez, many opponents of Chavist power had already left Venezuela. One of the most famous of them is the former mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, who has lived in Spain since 2017. Another opposition leader Julio Borges is himself in exile in Colombia after being accused of a attack which Nicolas Maduro had said to have been the target in 2018.
According to his Voluntad Popular party, Leopoldo Lopez will now “To initiate new actions in favor of the struggle for the freedom of Venezuela”.
