Diaz-Balart Calls for Leopoldo Lopez's Immediate Release on Two Year Anniversary of Imprisonment

Statement

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) released the following statement on the second anniversary of Venezuelan pro-democracy activist and elected official Leopoldo Lopez's imprisonment by the Venezuelan regime.

"It is outrageous that Leopoldo Lopez, who dared to peacefully defy the Maduro regime, remains in prison two years after the protests of 2014. Even the U.N.'s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention demanded his release, declaring that Mr. Lopez's closed trial was "marked by serious irregularities' and that Mr. Lopez was entitled to compensation and an apology.

"The Maduro regime will stoop to any level to weaken and demoralize the opposition. Just last month, Mr. Lopez's wife and mother reported that they were strip searched in front of Mr. Lopez's children, aged six and two, as the family was attempting to visit him in Venezuela's Ramo Verde prison. Yet imprisoning the opposition, and traumatizing innocent women and children, cannot mask the media censorship, massive corruption, brutality against protesters, shortages, and crushing inflation that have become the Chavez-Maduro legacy. The December elections resoundingly declared that the people of Venezuela have had enough of the Maduro reign of intimidation and oppression. I join them in demanding that Leopoldo Lopez, and all political prisoners in Venezuela, must be released immediately."

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