Leopoldo López Mendoza

Leopoldo López Mendoza ( born April 29, 1971 in Caracas ) is a Venezuelan politician. He was from 2000 to 2008 mayor of Chacao municipios de Caracas.

Life

López was born on April 29, 1971 in Caracas. From 1989 to 1993 he studied at Kenyon College in the U.S. state of Ohio. He then studied at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he graduated with a Master of Public Policy in 1996.

From 2000 until 2008 he was the mayor of Chacao de Caracas. At the first election he was elected by a majority of 51%. In his re-election in 2004 his vote share was 79.5 %.

When coup attempt against Hugo Chavez in 2002 López was one of those who went against Chavez on the road. He is one of the signatories of the so -called " Carmona Decree ", which should legitimize the coup government of Pedro Carmona.

At the presidential elections in Venezuela, which will be held on 7 October 2012, Lopez had first declared his candidacy. Then he pulled it back, however, and supported Henrique Capriles.

Controversy over corruption allegations

In 2008 he withdrew from the Comptroller General of Venezuela, Clodosbaldo Russián, embezzlement of public funds in two cases stand for election. This forbids him to 2014, to hold public office. As mayor of Chacao he had been indicted in 2005 along with 427 other politicians of both political camps for corruption. He was not legally condemned, because it is an " administrative punishment ", which is provided in the Venezuelan anti-corruption law.

In September 2011, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the sentence as illegal because only could impose such a penalty a court of law in a criminal trial. However, the Court did not comment on the correctness of the allegations of corruption against López. The Supreme Court in Venezuela described the judgment but as " unworkable".

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch accuses the Venezuelan Supreme Court to protect the "political agenda " of Hugo Chavez to talk instead of right. The Carter Center published an open letter, which states, Venezuela is the only country apart from the military tribunals of the regime of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, which decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights had rejected.

Arrest in February 2014

Since 12 February 2014, came in Venezuela student protests because of missed from the perspective of the protesters economic policy under President Nicolás Maduro, which include, among other Leopoldo López had also called (see protests in Venezuela 2014). It came on the first day of protest to three dead, one government and two opposition supporters. On suspicion of being responsible for two of the dead, eight members of the National Intelligence Sebin were arrested. The intelligence chief was deposed.

The prosecution applied for on charges of incitement to violence, membership of a criminal association, murder and terrorism arrest warrant against López, who was eventually issued by a judge. López himself denied his guilt, but gave himself up during a further demonstration on 18 February the authorities and was taken to a military prison outside of Caracas. The investigating judge dropped the charges fall murder and terrorism, however, confirmed the detention because of the remaining charges.

International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of López ' or clear evidence of his guilt. In the opinion of these organizations have López ' merely exercised his constitutional right to freedom of expression and freedom to demonstrate. López ' role as a leading spokesman for the opposition in the further ongoing protests took from now one to his wife Lilian Tintori, who has been known almost overnight, nationally and internationally.