Leer en Español
Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López, in exile since 2020, denounced on Tuesday that President Nicolás Maduro remains in power due to the support of the “enemies” of the United States, and demanded greater support to the democratic forces in his country, particularly from Washington.
“There is no way to win the fight for democracy and freedom if the United States does not lead it,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Democratic lawmaker Bob Menendez.
Lopez, a resident of Spain, emphasized in that session that the Venezuelan president, in his opinion, is in power neither because of military support, nor because of his country’s wealth in natural resources, nor because the opposition is fractured.
“The real reason is the international support he has from enemies of the United States: from Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, Cuba. Maduro is clearly part of an autocratic network that is aligned in protecting itself, in defending itself diplomatically”, added the politician and economist.
Any collaboration received by that Executive, he added, is worrisome because “Maduro and his regime are a criminal structure that is linked not only with the autocracies of the world, but also with criminal groups such as the FARC, the ELN, the Sinaloa cartel, the Wagner group.”
“Sharing intelligence information, giving Maduro stability or even whitewashing what Maduro means diplomatically to present him as legitimate I think is a big mistake,” stressed Lopez, who in November launched the World Congress for Freedom to bring together activists and movements from more than 40 countries to “keep the struggle and hope alive.”
Democracy, he made clear in his appearance, needs to be fought for. “We need to make visible the reality of political prisoners and transnational repression. And also increase the cost to the regime of having political prisoners.”
The session focused on U.S. support for democracy and human rights and also featured Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) pro-democracy NGO President Damon Wilson.
López, a member of the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank, stressed that there must be massive, free and uncensored access to the Internet to combat disinformation and enable people to mobilize.
And he also called for “rethinking sanctions”: “They are not a panacea. They are a means to an end,” he said.
More! Prices for tourist, student and temporary worker visas rise
The crisis in his country, he stressed, is not a consequence of sanctions, but of mismanagement and corruption, and therefore urged that sanctions should not only focus on government officials, but also on all those individuals and companies that “are behind that kleptocratic network of corruption and that provide support to the dictatorship.”
The Venezuelan politician added that the private sector should also be part of the conversation in favor of greater rights, and pointed out specifically in reference to the United States that it is not only necessary to have bipartisan support. Such support, he concluded, must have the cooperation of all branches of the Executive.
For López, the negotiation process in Mexico between the Venezuelan government and the opposition grouped in the Unitary Platform is stalled because “Maduro has no intention of moving forward”, and the only way to end the “humanitarian tragedy” in his country is “through a political change”.
