#Maduro appears to be a quasi-farcical Chávez wannabe, while Leopoldo López looks like Venezuela’s JFK-in-waiting — the man of the future
Venezuela's Last Hope
Leopoldo López embodies the change his country needs. And that's exactly why he's still in jail.
By Jeffrey Tayler
June 10, 2015 - 2:22 pm
Foreign Policy
Just over thirteen months have passed since Leopoldo López, the most
prominent and charismatic leader of Venezuela’s embattled democratic
opposition, stood
on the pedestal of the statue of José Martí in a commercial district in
eastern Caracas. He had just addressed a huge crowd of cheering
supporters, calling for a continuation of the nonviolent, nation-wide
protests aimed at bringing down the regime of President Nicolás Maduro.
He pledged never to leave the country (despite a secret offer from the
government to depart into exile) and to carry on the fight for democracy
in Venezuela. He announced that he would, then and there, surrender to
the authorities (to face charges relating to the deaths of two
protesters a week earlier), and that his “incarceration would be worth
it if it woke up the people.” He closed with a promise: “Very soon, we
will have a free and democratic Venezuela!” Then he waved goodbye and
climbed down.
Two officers of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard grabbed him by
the arms and hustled him through the surging mass of people until they
reached an armored vehicle. As López was boarding, he pivoted toward the
crowd, raised his arm, and clenched his fist in a valedictory gesture
of defiance. The officers then shoved him inside, and the vehicle took
him to Ramo Verde military prison in a suburb of Caracas.
He has remained there ever since. Twice Maduro has offered to swap
López for Oscar López Rivera, a Puerto Rican nationalist incarcerated in
the United States since 1981 for seditious conspiracy, but López has
refused.
Read the rest of the article on Foreign Policy here: Venezuela’s Last Hope
