Washington, D.C. —In December 2011, former Chacao Mayor Leopoldo Lopez participated in CAP’s Global Progress Summit at the United Nations and Century Foundation. Today, in response to the unrest in Venezuela, including a government crack-down on student-led demonstrators and the jailing of Lopez, Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
Events across Venezuela during the past week are cause for deep concern for all who value freedom of political expression and cherish human dignity. The Venezuelan authorities’ resort to violence against peaceful student demonstrators, causing multiple deaths among protestors; their decision to arbitrarily jail Leopoldo Lopez, a leading opposition voice; and their efforts to hide their repression by censoring international media coverage of protests across Venezuela all fly in the face of common decency and basic international norms. Now is the time for leaders from all walks of life and all political persuasions throughout the Americas and around the world to stand with the Venezuelan people and their desire to live in peace and democracy.
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