Atmosphere tense but quiet outside Lopez home after opposition leader taken away

Record ID: 904831

  • Title: Atmosphere tense but quiet outside Lopez home after opposition leader taken away
  • Date: 1st August 2017
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE - JULY, 2017) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF LOPEZ ON THE ROOF OF HIS HOUSE WITH SUPPORTERS CHEERING FOR HIM ON THE DAY HE WAS GRANTED HOUSE ARREST, SUPPORTERS CHANTING "YES WE CAN" LOPEZ ON ROOF KISSING VENEZUELAN FLAG LOPEZ UNFURLING VENEZUELAN FLAG LOPEZ SHOUTING FROM ROOF, HOLDING VENEZUELAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2017 14:19
  • Keywords: Venezuela Leopoldo Lopes Nicolas Maduro Lilian Tintori
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036SBSFGN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuelan security officials seized two opposition leaders from their homes in overnight raids, their families said on Tuesday, after they urged protests against a new legislative superbody widely denounced as anti-democratic. Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were both under house arrest, the former for his role in leading street protests against President Nicolas Maduro in 2014 and the latter on charges of plotting a coup.
    Lopez's wife Lilian Tintori tweeted word of the seizure: "12:27 in the morning: the moment when the dictatorship kidnaps Leopoldo at my house." She also posted a link to a video that appeared to show Lopez being led into a vehicle emblazoned with the word Sebin, Venezuela's intelligence agency.
    Lopez and Ledezma are both former mayors in Caracas, and high-profile critics of Maduro. They had called on Venezuelans to join protests over Sunday's election of the constituent assembly, which supersedes an opposition-controlled congress that a pro-Maduro Supreme Court had already stripped of its powers. At least 10 people were killed in unrest during the vote, which was boycotted by the opposition and criticized around the world as an assault on democratic freedoms.
    Lopez was granted house arrest in July following three years in prison for his role in anti-government street protests in 2014. His release was considered a major breakthrough in the country's political standoff. Lopez's lawyer, Juan Gutierrez, wrote on Twitter that "there is no legal justification to revoke the house arrest measure."
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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