In Venezuela, the Maduro government is about to put a leading opposition politician on trial, or ‘show trial’ to be precise. Leopoldo Lopez has remained in prison since his arrest in February, spending almost all of it in total isolation. He turned himself in when the government accused him of incitement to violence. Since then significant figures close to Lopez have either been imprisoned, threatened, forced abroad or mysteriously killed in violent crimes. He had proved his political clout after bringing hundreds of thousands onto the streets in protest against the state’s corruption and authoritarianism, protests that continued into March and beyond. Some 40 people died during the unrest, and up to 5000 were wounded, mostly among demonstrators. At the time of Lopez’s arrest, though, clandestine snapshots showed that snipers from the government’s side had caused the first spate of deaths. Hardly, therefore, incited by him.
No comments:
Post a Comment