Venezuela's jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez celebrated a surprise return to his family after being granted house arrest on Saturday with a promise to fight on, following three years' imprisonment for leading anti-government protests.
Hours after his pre-dawn transfer from the Ramo Verde military jail, Lopez appeared over a wall of his Caracas house, waving the Venezuelan national flag and punching the air before a crowd of supporters who cheered and cried upon seeing him.
In a message released by his party, the 46-year-old hardliner urged opposition supporters to continue street protests against president Nicolas Maduro. The protests are in their fourth month and have led to at least 90 deaths.
Venezuela's opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez salutes supporters, in his home in Caracas, Venezuela, July 8, 2017. /VCG Photo
"If maintaining my fight for freedom means running the risk of returning to a cell in Ramo Verde, I am more than happy to take it," he said in the message read by Freddy Guevara, the No. 2 in Lopez's Popular Will party.
"Today, I am a prisoner in my house, but so are the Venezuelan people. What kept me going in the toughest days was knowing that whatever suffering I endured was nothing compared to our people."
Lopez's release, aided by foreign pressure, gave some rare cheer to Venezuela's opposition who has otherwise seen Maduro give few concessions in their demands for freedom of activists, general elections and fixes for an economic crisis.
Maduro for years opposed measures to release Lopez, describing him as a dangerous terrorist who sought to overthrow him through street violence.
Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, speaks during a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, June 22, 2017. /VCG Photo
On Saturday, Maduro extended an olive branch of sorts.
"I as head of state accept the (Supreme Court's) decision, and what's more, I support the decision. And you all know my absolute and profound differences with LL," Maduro said, referring to Lopez by his initials.
"God willing this decision ... will be understood, and Mr. LL, after almost four years in Ramo Verde, will give a message of rectification and peace."
Venezuela's Supreme court said Lopez had been given the measure due to his health problems, but his family countered that he is in good shape.
The release was aided in part by the involvement of former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has for years maintained talks with the Maduro government, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Venezuelan officials said.
Supporters of Leopoldo Lopez take to the streets to celebrate his release from prison, in Madrid, Spain, July 8, 2017. /VCG Photo
At Maduro's behest, Venezuela on July 30 will elect a controversial Constituent Assembly.
The opposition says that is a power grab meant to keep in office and annul the existing opposition-controlled legislature against the will of the people.
Though a hero to many, Lopez has also faced criticism from some within the opposition for at times being headstrong and domineering. He founded the Popular Will party after splitting with the First Justice party that he had also helped found.
Though Lopez had publicly called for peaceful resistance to Maduro in 2014 and was behind bars during most of the unrest that year which killed 43 people, prosecutors said his speeches sent subliminal messages and constituted a call to violence.
Venezuelan opposition demonstrators block the avenue during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, July 6, 2017. /VCG Photo
One of the prosecutors who led the case later fled the country and said the proceeding had been a mockery of justice.
Lopez is the scion of wealthy families and a direct descendant of the sister of Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar as well as of Venezuela's first president, Cristobal Mendoza.
Pro-government critics paint him as a dangerous radical in the pocket of Venezuela's wealthy elite and the US government.
(Source: Reuters)
