NEW YORK (February 21, 2014)—Yesterday the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) declared Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López a prisoner of conscience of President Nicolás Maduro’s government. HRF also joined the many high-profile figures and international organizations in calling for his immediate release. López was arrested last Tuesday in Caracas as he was leading a peaceful march towards the Ministry of Internal Relations, Justice, and Peace. Early yesterday morning a court ruled that López will remain under pre-trial detention in the Ramo Verde prison in Los Teques, Miranda, as criminal proceedings against him continue.
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| Leopoldo López kisses his wife goodbye before his arrest on February 18. |
“With López’s imprisonment and the brutally repressive tactics that police, armed forces, and paramilitary groups are using against his supporters, the Venezuelan state has lost any democratic façade it may have had,” said Garry Kasparov, chairman of HRF. “López’s supporters are the more than seven million people who voted for Capriles last April and that make up, according to official data from the chavista electoral council itself, 49.12% of voters in Venezuela. Maduro must understand that he cannot simply erase all of the opposition in the national assembly with the stroke of a pen and expect no complaints. And once they complain, he cannot simply call them fascists and shoot them down. Either Maduro releases López and calls for an honest dialogue with all of the opposition, or he must step down for the sake of all Venezuelans: both those who support chavismo and those who do not. Venezuela does not need an executioner willing to kill half of the country. Venezuela needs a president,” added Kasparov.