VENEZUELA-PROTESTS/HUNGER STRIKE Venezuela opposition leader firm on 24th day of hunger strike as students join protest

Record ID: 151568

  • Title: VENEZUELA-PROTESTS/HUNGER STRIKE Venezuela opposition leader firm on 24th day of hunger strike as students join protest
  • Date: 17th June 2015
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LOPEZ BEING HANDED TO POLICE
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE49QV4FROAAYFF3JZ21DZYZEP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has lost 12 kilograms (26 pounds) on a partial hunger-strike now in its fourth week, his family said, while students around the country escalate similar protests in solidarity.
    The 44-year-old Lopez who heads the hardline Popular Will party and is charged with masterminding violence during mass protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government last year, began his action in a military jail at the end of May.
    Decried by Maduro as a "monster" and puppet of U.S. plots to overthrow socialism in Venezuela, he demands freedom for other detained activists and a date for parliamentary elections due by year-end.
    "Leopoldo hasn't eaten in 23 days. He will continue his hunger strike. He looks skinny, he looks thin, he's lost 12 kilograms and is down to 65 kilograms, but he's staying firm and sure that his objectives will be achieved and that they must be achieved," Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, said in an interview at the gated family home in leafy east Caracas.
    She visited him in prison over the weekend.
    "Leopoldo wanted to unmask Nicolas Maduro and, after a year and four months, we've unmasked Nicolas Maduro and today the whole world knows what is happening in Venezuela. Today, all of Latin America completely rejects the violation of human rights that is taking place in Venezuela," added Tintori, whose husband was on his 24th day of protest on Wednesday.
    Opposition parties say around 100 others have also begun partial hunger-strikes - taking water and serum but not solids - in public places and jails.
    The hunger strike protest is far smaller than last year's opposition demonstrations which grew to command several thousand youths at sit-ins in squares and streets.
    And the opposition Democratic Unity coalition, which polls say could win the National Assembly in the upcoming election, is split as to the wisdom of street tactics and hunger-strikes.
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