CARACAS (Reuters) – Former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez’s trip to support jailed opposition leaders in Venezuela has brought cheers from anti-government foes but cries of interventionism from socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Gonzalez, a Socialist who governed from 1982 to 1996, met yesterday with Venezuela’s opposition bloc in support of jailed politicians Leopoldo Lopez and Daniel Ceballos who are both on partial hunger strikes.
“That’s what has motivated my visit,” Gonzalez said at a press conference in affluent eastern Caracas. He was flanked by the politicians’ wives and members of the MUD opposition coalition.
Hardline leader Lopez and a former city mayor Ceballos, jailed for their role in 2014 anti-Maduro protests, stopped eating around two weeks ago to demand freedom for jailed activists and push for a date for parliamentary elections.
Both men have been losing weight, their relatives say, though they are taking water and nutrient serum.
At the weekend, Gonzalez visited former Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, who is under house arrest on accusations of backing a coup plot against Maduro.
The visit by Spain’s longest serving prime minister comes as an economic crisis weighs on Maduro’s popularity. Polls forecast his Socialist Party will lose this year’s vote.
Maduro’s two-year administration lashed out at the visit, with state TV and ministers promoting the hashtag “#FelipeFueradeAqui!”, or “#FelipeGetOutOfHere!”
