- Title: Venezuela's Leopoldo Lopez compares Maduro to "Saddam Hussein"
- Date: 10th December 2020
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (DECEMBER 10, 2020) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** LOPEZ ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE, WAVING TO CAMERA LOPEZ SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (NOT A SOUNDBITE) GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN, LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, SAYING: "Last Sunday (December 6) a fraud took place in Venezuela, a fraud that is comparable to what Saddam Hussein had done in Iraq, or with the fictional elections that they do in Cuba, or with the consultancies that dictators do. 95% of the seats in the assembly were fraudulently voted on last Sunday. It (assembly) was left in the hands of the PSUV (coalition aligned with Maduro). And then after formally announcing the result, the CNE (Venezuelan electoral body) has the nerve to change the make up to include some allies who needed to be in the assembly." GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN, LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, SAYING: "At this moment we are telling the world that we can't do it alone. We need the world's help to keep pressuring the dictator Nicolas Maduro. We believe in pressure, we believe in the use of diplomatic tools, of the tool of international politics, of the tool of sanctions so as to direct responsibility towards those who have violated human rights." LOPEZ SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN, LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, SAYING: "We are convinced that politics is central to achieving freedom and having free elections, and it will be kept up. Of course each government has its nuances but the central objective is still in place. I highly doubt, and I dare say this... it is nearly impossible for the (U.S. President-elect Joe) Biden administration to recognise the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro. Also, with the fraudulent elections of December 6, very important voices in the Democrats have indicated what they have indicated, that what happened (election) was a fraud." GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE LOPEZ AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 24th December 2020 22:13
- Keywords: Bogota Colombia Leopoldo Lopez President Nicolas Maduro Venezuela opposition figure
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- City: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002D8KAZ47
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez met with Colombian President Ivan Duque in Bogota on Thursday (December 10), speaking out against the government of President Nicolas Maduro and dismissing a recent parliamentary election as "fraud".
Lopez was jailed in 2014 for leading violent protests against Maduro, and was released to house arrest in 2017. But during house arrest he escaped to the Spanish ambassador's residence in Venezuela. In October, Lopez fled Venezuela and went to Spain.
Since then, Lopez has vowed to campaign internationally for free elections in Venezuela.
In a Bogota news conference , Lopez compared Maduro to Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein. The late Iraqi president was lambasted while in power for his landslide election results that were critcised for being undemocratic.
In Venezuela, allies of Maduro won 91% percent of the National Assembly's election on Sunday (December 6), a vote that was boycotted by the opposition and disavowed by the United States and the European Union.
Opposition leaders and most Western nations said the election was stacked in favour of Maduro, who has been widely criticised for his human rights record and for undermining democracy to stay in power.
(Production: Herbert Villarraga, Camilo Cohecha, Paul Vieira) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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