Venezuelan dissident released from prison

Ernesto Londoño

RIO DE JANEIRO — Leopoldo López, Venezuela’s most prominent political prisoner, was released from a military prison Saturday morning and transferred to house arrest in a surprise move that could invigorate the protest movement against President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

Political allies and one of López’s lawyers described the release as a sign that the government is starting to buckle in the face of months of public demonstrations and growing diplomatic isolation.

“This is a step toward freedom, not just Leopoldo’s, but also a step that brings all Venezuelans closer to freedom,” a lawmaker, Freddy Guevara, said outside López’s home, where supporters chanted “Yes, we can!”

Jared Genser, an American human rights lawyer who has represented López, said his client’s release was a unilateral concession by the government that took López’s relatives and legal team by surprise.

“I see it as a pragmatic move by Maduro to release pressure he was under that was disproportionately higher than the value of keeping him in jail,” Genser said. “Now is the time for sustained pressure on Maduro.”

López, a charismatic Harvard-educated politician, made a brief appearance Saturday afternoon outside his house, where throngs of supporters gathered, but made no public remarks. Genser said López was prohibited from speaking publicly or giving interviews as a condition of his release.

But in a statement released by his lawyer, López said: “I am not willing to give up my fight for the freedom of Venezuela. And if that means that I must return to a cell in Ramo Verde, I am willing to do so.”

“Tomorrow,” he added, “is the 100th day of our struggle in the street and that is where we will come together with the people. That is why we call on all the people of Venezuela to go out again throughout the country — strength and faith!”

Venezuela’s top court announced the news Saturday morning in a couple of posts on Twitter, calling the release a “humanitarian gesture” and citing unspecified health problems of López’s. Later in the day, Vladimir Padrino López, Venezuela’s defense minister, said the release was evidence of the government’s commitment to “tolerance and dialogue.”

The case has been the subject of intense political and diplomatic negotiations since López, founder of the political movement Voluntad Popular, or Public Will, was arrested in the wake of large street demonstrations in February 2014.

In September 2015, he was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for inciting violent protests. Human rights advocates assailed the proceedings as unfair.

Lacking firm evidence, prosecutors argued that López had used subliminal messages to stoke violence.

The transfer comes after months of daily protests against Maduro’s government that have left more than 90 people dead.

ARIANA CUBILLOS / ASSOCIATED PRESS Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez holds a national flag as he salutes supporters outside his home in Caracas, Venezuela, after his release from prison Saturday.