Florida Gov. Rick Scott today called for “complete freedom” for Leopoldo López and all “political prisoners” in Venezuela at a ceremony held in Doral, a city adjacent to Miami, with the participation of 200 people.
Scott said that “it is not enough” that the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) has granted the house arrest to the leader of Popular Will, who spent more than three years imprisoned in the military prison of Ramo Verde, in the outskirts of Caracas.
“We are asking for complete freedom for Leopoldo López and all political prisoners,” Scott said at an event in a Venezuelan restaurant in Doral, where many Venezuelans live in exile.
The Arepazo 2 was filled with people who cheered Scott and with Venezuelan flags in their hands shouted slogans in favor of “freedom” in Venezuela, where for 101 days there have been protests against the government of Nicolás Maduro in which they have died 91 people, according to the Attorney General of the country.
Lopez, imprisoned since February 2014 and convicted in 2015 of accusations related to the violence that erupted at the end of an opposition demonstration, was released on July 8 of Ramo Verde military jail and placed under house arrest because of “problems Of health, “according to the TSJ.
The governor of Florida was “pleased” that he has come out of his “illegal imprisonment” and is with his family.
Scott asked that the opponents of Nicolás Maduro’s government remain “united”, he called for “the movement for democracy and freedom does not stop” and stressed his intention to propose that Florida “do not do business” with organizations that support the regime Venezuelan.
In a later statement to the media, he added that “the Maduro regime and all criminals have to withdraw” in order to have “free and fair” elections in the Latin American country.
The coordinator of the Popular Will party in Miami, Carlos Vecchio, also attended the ceremony and said he had been able to speak to Lopez after his release.
Vecchio said they were moments of “tremendous emotionality” and revealed the words Lopez told him, which he also said he spent a “particularly hard” month in prison.
“Prepare a plane for you to come, Venezuela needs you in the street,” were the words of the Venezuelan opposition leader according to Vecchio, who in statements after Efe said he works to make that happen “as soon as possible.”
On the recent imputation of Colonel Bladimir Lugo Armas, head of the command of the National Guard who guarded the Venezuelan Parliament, opined that he is “responsible” for the attack that occurred on July 5 when a group of Chavistas entered by force in The Federal Legislative Palace of Caracas, seat of the National Assembly.
The intruders, some of them armed with sticks, wounded twenty people, including seven opposition deputies, whom, according to Vecchio, they “intended to assassinate.”
“It seems to me positive that progress is being made in the sense of criminalizing those who now trample on human rights in Venezuela,” he said.
Vecchio also encouraged Venezuelans from South Florida to participate in the plebiscite approved by the Venezuelan Parliament, to be held on Sunday, July 16, and to “reject” with their vote the Constituent Assembly promoted by the government of Nicolás Maduro.
In Florida there will be numerous polling stations that day. Only in the Miami area will it be possible to vote in seven centers.
Also in the southeastern US area. There will be voting in North Carolina and South Carolina, in Georgia and Tennessee.
