Wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader calls on Vatican to help release husband

Record ID: 76028

  • Title: Wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader calls on Vatican to help release husband
  • Date: 6th December 2016
  • Summary: VATICAN CITY (DECEMBER 6, 2016) (REUTERS) LILIAN TINTORI, WIFE OF JAILED VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER LEOPOLDO LOPEZ AND MOTHER OF LOPEZ, ANTONIETA MENDOZA, SEATED UNDER COLONNADE NEXT TO ST. PETER'S SQUARE WITH VATICAN IN BACKGROUND TINTORI LYING UNDER BLANKET WITH VENEZUELAN FLAG OVER HER VENEZUELAN FLAG ON BLANKET TINTORI AND MENDOZA SEATED UNDER COLONNADE TINTORI TRYING TO SLEEP VARIOUS OF MENDOZA AND TINTORI UNDER COLONNADE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LILIAN TINTORI, WIFE OF JAILED VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, SAYING: "We are here to call for the freedom of Leopoldo Lopez, my husband, who has been unjustly held for two years and nine months. We are here also for Mayor Antonio Ledezma (former mayor of Caracas) and we are here for the 108 political prisoners who are being held unjustly in Venezuela. They must be released. International organisations’ have called for the release of Leopoldo, the United Nations, the Inter-American Human Rights, the EU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch. We ask the Vatican, as an international representative, to demand that the government of (Venezuelan President) Nicolas Maduro respect international agreements and free my husband Leopoldo Lopez." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS UNDER COLONNADE NEXT TO VATICAN
  • Embargoed: 21st December 2016 16:19
  • Keywords: Venezuela Vatican Lopez Tintori protest Pope
  • Location: VATICAN CITY
  • City: VATICAN CITY
  • Country: Vatican City
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015BQZ5FN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez called on the Vatican on Tuesday (December 6) to demand the release of her husband.
    Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo Lopez, and his mother, Antonieta de Lopez, have been protesting at the Vatican for several days, nestling under blankets in a colonnade next to St. Peter's square. A Venezuelan flag lay over a blanket used by Tintori to keep her warm.
    "We are here to call for the freedom of Leopoldo Lopez, my husband, who has been unjustly held for two years and nine months" Tintori told reporters.
    "We are here also for Mayor Antonio Ledezma (former mayor of Caracas) and we are here for the 108 political prisoners who are being held unjustly in Venezuela. They must be released," she said.
    "International organisations' have called for the release of Leopoldo, the United Nations, the Inter-American Human Rights, the EU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch. We ask the Vatican, as an international representative, to demand that government of (Venezuelan President) Nicolas Maduro respect international agreements and free my husband Leopoldo Lopez," Tintori said.
    A month ago, Venezuela began a process of dialogue between the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro and the opposition, accompanied by the Vatican, which seeks to ease the tension in the deeply divided country that is going through a deep economic recession.
    The talks have been faltering and it is expected that this week the parties will meet again to evaluate the progress, which the opposition has already said, are disappointing. Only a handful of detained leaders - who the opposition considers political prisoners, but whom Maduro says are criminals - have been released since the meetings began.
    The local human rights group Criminal Forum counts 108 political prisoners. The coalition of opposition parties, Mesa de la Unidad Democratica (MUD), places the number at 135.
    Lopez is the country's most prominent inmate, serving a 13-year sentence in a military jail since 2014, accused of encouraging a wave of protests against Maduro that year, killing 43 people and injuring thousands.
    Ledezma, the former mayor of the capital Caracas is currently under house arrest accused of conspiring against the socialist government in 2015.
    So far Pope Francis has not commented on the protest at the Vatican.
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