Crisis in the Party of Leopoldo López: 100 Leaders Resign

Over 100 regional, parish and activist leaders announced their resignation from the Voluntad Popular political party in Caracas, after an alleged

Published 20 February 2022

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In a communiqué, more than 100 regional leaders, parish leaders and activists, the latter from Caracas (capital), have voluntarily left their affiliation to Voluntad Popular, an opposition party led by Leopoldo López.

A hundred regional leaders have resigned from Voluntad Popular (VP) due to "deviation of values" in this Venezuelan opposition party, led by Leopoldo López.

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In a communiqué, more than 100 regional leaders, parish leaders and activists, the latter from Caracas (capital), have voluntarily left their affiliation to Voluntad Popular, the former coordinator of the activists in the capital, Javier Gonzalez reported this Saturday.

In explaining the reason for the group's resignation, the note highlights that it is due to a "deviation from the values and statements of Voluntad Popular" and that, "the party had witnessed various acts of contempt, disregard, and segregation against political and social leaders who worked for years in spite of the complicit silence of the national leadership of the organization".".

In addition, the group recognizes that there have always been internal vices, but now a regime of arbitrariness and bad practices is observed daily in the party, which was also championed for a long time by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

Funny stuff: over 100 activists left Voluntad Popular, that's @leopoldolopez's and @jguaido's party, even taking off their shirts in sync ��. They blamed deviations and a lack of internal democracy.This means they weren't asked if the half-baked mercenary invasion was a good idea https://t.co/fWgsfI08Ao
— venezuelanalysis.com (@venanalysis) February 20, 2022

López, one of the founders of Voluntad Popular, was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for having led violent and insurrection actions against the national government that led to the death of dozens of Venezuelans.

However, he fled from house arrest in April 2019 in a failed coup d'état, which forced him to take refuge in the residence of the Spanish ambassador as a "guest". He later left the Spanish embassy clandestinely and traveled to Madrid.

Also, López is considered a mentor of Guaidó, who proclaimed himself in January 2019 as "president in charge" of Venezuela to force the departure of the country's legitimate president, Nicolás Maduro.