Leopoldo López: The Most Prominent Political Prisoner In Latin America Speaks Out

Before Leopoldo López was arrested in February 2014, he was considered among the most popular opposition leaders in Venezuela. López led a public protest and was charged with terrorism, arson, and homicide. He was sentenced to 13 years and nine months in prison, despite prosecutors acknowledging that he had been peaceful. They argued that he’d incited violence in others.

Amnesty International condemned his prosecution as “an affront to justice” and “a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent”. The judge, lead prosecutor, and attorney general later admitted that the case against López was a farce.

In July 2017, López was released from military prison, where he was prohibited from speaking publicly or with the media and spent months in solitary confinement. He was placed under house arrest on the condition that he remained silent.

Venezuela, according to Hylton (no relation to the Piqd writer), has descended into:

... unprecedented chaos — with the world’s highest rate of inflation, extreme shortages of food and medicine, constant electrical blackouts, thousands of children dying of malnutrition, rampant crime in every province, looting and rioting in the streets ...

To the bewilderment of López’s supporters, he has said nothing from behind the walls of his house in the wealthy suburbs of Caracas. But behind the scenes, he was speaking with Hylton to get his message out.

In violation of his release, López spoke with Hylton, who reached out to him last August through an intermediary. Each time they spoke, they pretended to be old college friends, in an effort to avoid state security. López told Hylton: "It's for the cause of millions of people who are suffering" and "I'm at peace".

The piece was published, and the police raided his house with machine guns and ski masks — they had an order to take him back to military prison. In a secret voice message sent to Hylton, which was played on The Daily podcast, López said: "Please tell your people not to leave me astray ... don't forget about me."