Leopoldo López announced that the Venezuelan opposition will launch a new platform of unity against Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship

Leopoldo López, exiled in Spain, foresaw the Venezuelan opposition will launch a new platform for unity between political parties and civil society in the coming weeks against the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. In addition, he asked the international community to put more pressure on Chavista’s regime.

“In the coming weeks we will complete the launch of a new unitary platform between parties and civil society. And that will enable us to carry out the necessary permanent activism in every corner of Venezuela. This is vital as it is necessary to maintain a permanent oxygen line with what is the awareness of activism for freedom ”., Chavismo’s former political prisoner said in an interview with the newspaper The Spanish.

He also warned that without unity there will always be the latent risk of “moving to the final stage of the Cubanization of Venezuelan society”.

The opposition leader noted that in search of this new unitary platform, he has held meetings with various political and social sectors. However, he clarified that Guidance from international allies, especially the United States, Europe and Spain, is essential.

In this sense, he believed that the international community should focus its efforts on “activating sanctions against human rights violators”: “This is one of the key issues that the international community must address, drawing a red line in Venezuela with respect human rights ”.

Leopoldo López noted that Maduro is “a criminal, a human rights violator”. “You cannot launder Maduro, he is not only a ruler with an authoritarian tendency. Maduro is a criminal who has been convicted by all of these authorities for crimes against humanity and human rights violations. “

The founder of Voluntad Popular (VP) said many of the Chavista officials accused of human rights violations are in Spain or have assets in the European country: “That red line must be drawn with torturers, drug traffickers and murderers.”

Sanctions would help prevent human rights violations in Venezuela from continuing: “If a human rights violator knows that he will be exposed to the public light, that he will be punished and that there will be consequences, there will be less abuse, fewer violations. In other words, if there are more sanctions today, there will be less torture tomorrow (…) We ask that these sanctions not only focus on the things that have happened, but also to prevent them from continuing. Since I left three months ago, they have imprisoned 17 people from our party ”.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought pointed out that diplomatic efforts also need to involve the dictatorship’s allies, especially at this time after the change of government in the United States: “The new multilateral diplomacy for freedom in Venezuela, accompanied by the change in Washington, must build bridges with those who support the dictatorship today.”

“Maduro has a blockade that gives him lasting support that goes much further. These countries give it military support, in intelligence, in military equipment, in money, in money laundering and corruption, in a black economy operating between the sanctioned countries, and in active and proactive diplomacy in all administrations. We are facing a multinational dictatorship with interests structured like a criminal corporation!“, He added.

Regarding this “black economy,” López stressed the drug trade: “Venezuela is a transit country. Colombia produces up to 70% of the world’s cocaine, and a large portion, up to 80%, of it leaves through Venezuela. So we are the port of departure. for at least a third of the cocaine consumed in the world, and that happens with the protection of the structures of the Venezuelan state ”.

Leopoldo López also expressed his views on what freedom is for Venezuelans, pointing out the difference between Venezuelan and Cuban affairs. “Freedom is not abstract in the case of Venezuela. It is not a distant idea, nor is it something that you put in tracts or speeches to meet a requirement. In Venezuela, freedom is oxygen. An oxygen that is lacking to read the news you want, or to travel, to say what you want on the street, or to get together, to study where you want, to look for work or to do something to buy that is available. Today, someone who wants to express their opinion on social networks thinks twice about what they are going to say. Because he knows that if the dictatorship doesn’t like him, they can knock on the door and put him in jail ”.

“What distinguishes Venezuela today from a country like Cuba or from dictatorships like the North Korean, more installed and refined, is that we Venezuelans are still willing to fight for freedom. And take the risks. That’s why I have a huge admiration for those who are still fighting in Venezuela: Juan Guaidó, who is leading this. To the deputies who have Sebin’s patrols at home. That they knock on their relatives to threaten them. That they go to their children’s schools in the beginning to wait for them … so that everyone knows that there are consequences for what they do, “he added.

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