venezuela opposition leader flees to spain
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Venezuela opposition leader flees to Spain

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicleVenezuela opposition leader flees to Spain

Antonio Ledezma
CARACAS - Muslimchronicle

Veteran Venezuelan opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, under house arrest since 2015 for alleged coup plotting, escaped across the border to Colombia on Friday and later flew to Spain.
With a 2018 presidential election looming, an array of major Venezuelan opposition figures are now in exile, detention or are barred from holding office.
They say Maduro has turned Venezuela into a dictatorship, while the government accuses them of joining forces with a US-led global plot to topple him.
Ledezma, the best-known detained opponent of leftist President Nicolas Maduro after Leopoldo Lopez, had spearheaded street protests against Maduro in 2014 that led to months of violence and 43 deaths.
“In Spain today I feel free,” he said at Madrid’s Barajas airport, where he arrived in the early hours of Saturday. He was cheered by a small crowd including his wife and two daughters, who were already in Spain. Supporters chanted the Venezuelan anthem.
“Let’s not permit that Venezuela dies in our hands,” he also said, adding that he would soon meet with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
The 62-year-old former Caracas metropolitan mayor said he had gone past 29 police and army controls during a clandestine, overland journey that he kept secret from his loved ones.
“I ask my wife and daughters to understand. They have suffered long hours of anguish without knowing where I was,” he told reporters in the Colombian border town of Cucuta after crossing a bridge from San Antonio in Venezuela.
“It was my decision alone.”
“Welcome to freedom!” tweeted former Colombian President Andres Pastrana, who is close to Venezuela’s opposition and the families of other jailed activists.
Ledezma was mocked by Maduro as “The Vampire,” and accused by officials of helping violent hard-liners, including dissident military officers plotting to topple the president via airstrikes. Ledezma said those charges were trumped up.
“I hope they never send him back, they can keep the Vampire,” Maduro said on Friday evening.
“The people of Madrid will have to be careful at night, the Vampire (is going) to Madrid.”
Before boarding a private plane to Bogota, Ledezma said he was planning a “global pilgrimage” to fight for political freedom in Venezuela. He thanked Colombia’s government, which also recently gave asylum to another high-profile Venezuelan dissident, former state prosecutor Luisa Ortega.
“It’s time for him (Maduro) to step aside and allow a transition government,” said Ledezma. “Maduro cannot keep torturing the Venezuelan people, he’s killing Venezuelans with hunger.”
The OPEC nation of 30 million people is suffering a fourth year of brutal recession, with the highest inflation in the world, shortages of food and medicines, and many people having to skip meals or suffering preventable illnesses.
Government supporters have long vilified Ledezma for supporting a brief 2002 coup and accused him of corruption.
State media repeatedly show a video where a jailed student radical lauds him as “an old fox... the politician who most supported the resistance.”
Ledezma, along with another opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has been part of the more militant wing of Venezuela’s opposition coalition. Both oppose a planned new political dialogue between the opposition and government scheduled for early December in the Dominican Republic.
“I left my flag with Maria Corina Machado, in whom I trust completely,” Ledezma told reporters.
Ledezma won the Caracas mayoralty in 2008, but some of his functions and funding were quickly transferred to a new, pro-government office. Upstaged by younger opposition leaders, Ledezma was not viewed as a future presidential candidate.
Intelligence agents took him from his office in Caracas in February 2015. He was originally held at the Ramo Verde military prison before being granted house arrest.
Machado told reporters Ledezma had been under increasing pressure from authorities and had faced threats to return him to Ramo Verde due to his opposition to the political dialogue.
“We believe in real negotiations, but only ones that lead to the exit of the dictatorship,” she told reporters.

themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

venezuela opposition leader flees to spain venezuela opposition leader flees to spain

 



Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

GMT 08:26 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Five things to know about Davos

GMT 21:30 2017 Wednesday ,01 November

New York Times’ third-quarter revenue up 6.1%

GMT 11:09 2017 Friday ,24 November

Berlin police seeking more missing John Lennon items

GMT 06:34 2017 Saturday ,09 December

Rockets down Jazz for eighth straight NBA win

GMT 23:25 2017 Thursday ,16 February

Pakistan adds 16 new fighter jets to its fleet

GMT 10:50 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Saudi university to open driving school for women

GMT 03:31 2017 Saturday ,07 January

Sharjah launches award for refugee support

GMT 21:54 2016 Wednesday ,01 June

December 21 - January 18

GMT 16:05 2017 Monday ,24 April

Sharapova's return divides rivals

GMT 13:50 2012 Sunday ,22 January

Egyptians can now remove any regime

GMT 07:26 2017 Sunday ,23 July

70 villagers kidnapped in Afghanistan
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
 
 Themuslimchronicle Facebook,themuslimchronicle facebook  Themuslimchronicle Twitter,themuslimchronicle twitter Themuslimchronicle Rss,themuslimchronicle rss  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle