CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition staged small protests in the country’s main cities yesterday to decry the near 14-year jail sentence handed to politician Leopoldo Lopez and galvanize support for the December parliamentary elections they are forecast to win.
Hardline opposition leader Lopez was convicted on September 10 of inciting 2014 anti-government protests that led to violence and killed 43 people.
Opposition activists rallied in Chacao, an affluent Caracas district where Lopez was once mayor, to denounce what they consider a sham trial and a sentence protestor Beatriz Plana called “wicked.”
Hundreds of activists chanted and waved flags, while some paraded around with a mannequin representing judge Susana Barreiros — who sentenced Lopez — holding a briefcase stuffed with fake dollars.
