Leopoldo López leaves the Spanish embassy in Caracas

• Venezuela Leopoldo López: five years challenging Chavismo

• Latin America. The National Assembly declares the Spanish ambassador in Caracas "a friend of the Venezuelan cause for the recovery of democracy"

Former political prisoner Leopoldo López has left the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, where he had been a guest since April 30 of last year.

López, leader of Voluntad Popular, served as presidential commissioner for the center of the Government of the interim Presidency, a kind of prime minister in Juan Guaidó's cabinet.

This has been confirmed to EL MUNDO by opposition sources on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, where the political leader would have escaped on his way to Bogotá.

López took refuge in the Spanish Embassy after the failure of the April 30 military rebellion against Nicolás Maduro.

That morning, the opposition leader was released from his house arrest by the men of General

, who then headed the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin), the political police of Chavismo.

Previously, López had spent three and a half years in a dungeon at the Ramo Verde military prison and another 21 months in his home in Caracas, thanks to a house-for-jail measure.

The Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) maintains a deployment in the vicinity of the Spanish embassy.

At the beginning of June of that same year,

, López's wife, and her youngest son, who remained with the opposition leader inside the Embassy,

.

Currently his family remains in Madrid, including his father, Leopoldo López Gil, elected MEP by the Popular Party.

Sentence to 14 years in prison

Leopoldo López was sentenced for public incitement to violence to almost 14 years in prison in a trial rigged by Chavismo, as the prosecutor in the case,

, recognized

After learning about the replacement of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, Jesús Silva, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain assured that it would not change the status of López within the diplomatic legation.

But this decision coincides with the change of course undertaken by the Madrid Government, led by

, High Representative of the European Union (EU): closer to

, who negotiated with Nicolás Maduro, and further away from Guaidó and, therefore, of López.

Since this change became known, speculation began about how the new ambassador would influence the political work of the former political prisoner.

In his last statement 48 hours ago through his social networks, the VP leader congratulated the Belarusian opposition for the Sakharov Prize and took the opportunity to paraphrase Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner:

"Let's not be neutral in the face of oppression and injustice," stressed the former political prisoner.

The Venezuelan opposition received the same award in 2017.

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Know more

• Nicolas Maduro

• Henrique Capriles

• Josep Borrell

• Juan Guaidó

• Lilian tintori

• Elections Venezuela

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