Venezuela’s Maduro may feel heat from both sides after Lopez move
VENEZUELA - Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has sought to ease protests and global censure by granting house arrest to opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez but he risks both energizing the opposition and alienating part of his socialist base. After three months of often violent street demonstrations demanding early elections and freedom for activists, the pro-government Supreme Court let Venezuela’s most famous jailed politician return to his Caracas home after three years.
Lopez, 46, a U.S.-educated economist and leader of the Popular Will party, is beloved by some in the opposition who admire his hardline stance and see him as a future president.
But he is loathed by many in the ruling Socialist Party who deem him an elitist coupmonger intent on overthrowing them.
The government has framed the release, partly brokered by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, as evidence that dialogue, not conflict, is the way forward.
Maduro quickly urged Lopez to rein in protests he says are seeking a coup amid a blistering economic crisis.
But the decision could be an unhappy middle ground that further isolates Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader narrowly elected to replace late leader Hugo Chavez in 2013, without bringing him tangible benefits.
Greeting the decision with fireworks and tears of joy at Lopez’s home, opposition supporters vowed to stick to the streets until all their demands are met.
“This is like a burst of oxygen after so many years of fighting,” said student Angel Ybirma, 28, who called his mother when he heard the news before draping himself in a Venezuelan flag and hopping on a motorbike to celebrate at the Lopez home. “This shows the government is scared, that it’s under a lot of international pressure, and that we’re going to emerge from this soon. We have to keep going with more passion,” he said, adding that Lopez deserves full freedom. Lopez, jailed on charges of inciting violence during similar protests in 2014, himself urged Venezuelans to keep up the grueling and often violent street action that has led to nearly 100 deaths, hundreds of arrests, and thousands of injuries.
The opposition is also holding an unofficial plebiscite next Sunday to ask Venezuelans what they think of Maduro’s controversial plan to rewrite the constitution and whether they instead want an early vote to remove him. Also cheered by some signs of dissent within government and the armed forces, Maduro’s foes are unlikely to soon sit down for public talks with the government. A dialogue mediated by Zapatero last year collapsed with little to show for it, and many in the opposition see him as a sellout who bought Maduro more time.
Still, the Lopez decision and the revived role of international mediators could carve out a potential roadmap for future negotiations. (Reuters. com/Photo: Reuters.com)