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As Venezuela solidifies the details of the national Constituent Assembly that will allow citizens to participate in the rewriting of the 1999 Constitution, high-profile opposition leaders have continued to fire back against President Nicolas Maduro, rejecting the process and calling for a "full rebellion" against the government.
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Jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez released a video on his Twitter account Sunday calling for more anti-government protests, adding that “rebellion, resistance and the protests are legitimate.” Lopez praised the right-wing demonstrations, which have often spilled over into violence, on the same evening as Orlando Figuera succumbed to injuries after he was repeatedly stabbed and set alight by opposition protestors who reportedly thought he was a 'Chavista,' or government supporter.
Lopez also expressed "admiration" for the protesters, characterizing them as "peaceful" despite a rising death toll from incidents linked to violent acts during protests.
The statement came after he held a meeting in the Ramo Verde prison with former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a mediator in the stalled Unasur-backed dialogue process aimed at smoothing tensions between the government and opposition — a process that Lopez' Popular Will party boycotted.
Lopez has been in prison since 2015 for inciting violence in the deadly "guarimbas" protests, or violent street blockades, that led to the deaths of 43 people. He was sentenced to 13 years for his involvement in planning and promoting the violent blockades which injured hundreds and caused billions of dollars in damages to public buildings and infrastructure.
Lopez and his wife Tintori have been outspoken opponents of Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution launched by late President Hugo Chavez. Since her husband's imprisonment, Tintori has embarked on an international campaign to smear the government of Maduro, including meeting with figures such as U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Lopez has become one of the most iconic faces of the Venezuelan opposition, selling himself as a political prisoner despite his long and sordid history in Venezuelan politics.
Last week, a judge involved in Lopez’s case was murdered in Caracas’ El Paraiso district.
Meanwhile, head of the right-wing opposition-controlled National Assembly, Julio Borges, echoed Lopez’s called for an escalation of protests, citing the opposition's continued rejection of the Constituent Assembly, called by Maduro to promote dialogue. Insistent calls for protests, rather than backing the Constituent Assembly process, has been seen as laying bare the fact that the opposition's only proposal and objective is ousting Maduro’s government.
“The call is that we continue in absolute rebellion (against) the Constituent Assembly ... because the country unanimously rejects the communist Constituent Assembly," he stated Sunday during a press conference of the right-wing opposition coalition, Democratic Unity Table, known by its Spanish acronym MUD.
Borges said street marches will continue and that they will not allow the Constituent Assembly process to move forward.
Venezuela's top electoral official announced Sunday that the vote to elect 545 repersentatives to the national Constituent Assembly will likely take place on July 30.
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