Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Caracas mayor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caracas mayor. Show all posts

Friday, November 24, 2017

Caracas mayor asks for political asylum in Spain


by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, France24, Madrid


    © AFP/File | Former Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, a staunch opponent of Venezuela's President, arrived in Madrid on November 18, 2017 after escaping house arrest and fleeing to Colombia

    MADRID  - 
    The mayor of Caracas, a staunch opponent of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, has applied for political asylum in Spain after fleeing to Madrid over the weekend, the Spanish government said Friday.
    Antonio Ledezma, 62, "asked for political asylum in Spain after three years in prison and under house arrest in his country," government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters.
    "He is a reference in the Venezuelan people's struggle to regain freedom and democratic normality," he added.
    A lawyer by profession, Ledezma was arrested and jailed in February 2015 over allegations he was plotting to overthrow the president, and had been under house arrest since August.
    He escaped to Colombia last week and then made his way to Spain.
    Ledezma has said he fled Caracas because Venezuelan military and intelligence officials had informed him of a "government plan" against him, though he provided no details.
    Oil-rich but cash-poor Venezuela is facing a deepening political and economic crisis as Maduro has moved to marginalise opposition forces, which control the country's legislature, and stifle independent media.

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    Saturday, November 18, 2017

    Ousted Caracas mayor arrives in Madrid after fleeing house arrest


    by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, France24, Madrid


      © AFP | Antonio Ledezma arrived in Madrid early Saturday after fleeing house arrest in Caracas

      MADRID - 
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      The former mayor of Caracas, a staunch opponent of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, arrived in Madrid early Saturday after escaping house arrest and fleeing to Colombia.
      Antonio Ledezma, 62, managed to cross the border on Friday, saying he would now help organise resistance to Maduro's increasingly authoritarian rule which has left millions facing food and medicine shortages.
      From Bogota, he flew to the Spanish capital where he was met by his wife and his two daughters as well as former Colombian president Andres Pastrana.
      A lawyer by profession, Ledezma was arrested and jailed in February 2015 over allegations he was plotting to overthrow the president, and had been under house arrest since August following surgery.
      "Venezuela is not at the edge of an abyss, it's at the bottom of the abyss: it is collapsing," he said on arriving at Madrid's Barajas airport.
      Ledezma said he plans to travel the world to demonstrate "the hope of all Venezuelans to finish with this regime, this dictatorship," and accused Maduro's government of "colluding with drug traffickers".
      He said Friday he had fled Caracas because Venezuelan military and intelligence officials had informed him of a "government plan" against him, though he provided no details.
      Oil-rich but cash-poor Venezuela is facing a deepening political and economic crisis as Maduro has moved to marginalise opposition forces, which control the country's legislature, and stifle independent media.
      This month the government signed a deal with Russia to restructure foreign debt of some $150 billion after it was hit hard by falling oil prices and sanctions imposed by Washington, which has labelled Madura a "dictator".

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