“Our time and energy will benefit the people in the pursuit of freedom,” Lopez tweeted Saturday. “Venezuela, this decision is not an easy one, but the rest have assured you that you have this server to fight from anywhere.
“We will not rest, and we will continue to work day and night to achieve the freedom that all Venezuelan people deserve.”
Some details about how the former mayor of the Caracas area, Lopez, went to Colombia are immediately available, which is the basis for some anti-Maduro groups.
Guide, in a tweet, said Lopez was in “international territory” but did not elaborate. “Maduro, you control nothing,” Guide wrote, adding that the opposition had succeeded in “mocking your repressive system” by bringing Lopez out of the embassy.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado also confirmed that Lopez, 49, was out of the country.
“I am very happy to be free to meet Leopoldo Lopez and his family again,” Machado said. Tweeted.
Two people with direct knowledge of Lopez’s whereabouts, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive opposition issue, said he was in Colombia.
The Spanish news agency EFE, quoting Lopez’s father, reported that Lopez was moving to Spain, where his wife and three children have lived since 2019.
Lopez’s escape six weeks before the Maduro-backed legislative elections, which condemned Venezuela’s opposition, was reported by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
The election on December 6 could expand the size of the National Assembly and threaten Guide’s position as Chamber President – a role he has used to increase his political legitimacy.
The United States and more than 50 other countries have recognized Gaida as Venezuela’s true leader after widespread allegations that Maduro would seek re-election in 2018.
“International support for Leopoldo Guide should be guaranteed,” said Nickmer Evans, a political analyst and former political prisoner. “Leopoldo must be in the US and Europe to recognize Guide as Venezuela’s leader.”
Evans said Lopez had a chance to “regain his leadership” and could play a high-level role in the opposition to Maduro.
Lopez, who was convicted of inciting anti-Maduro demonstrations, was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison. He was placed under house arrest in 2017.
In April 2019, Lopez took refuge in the Spanish embassy after leading a failed attempt to provoke an army against Maduro.
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