June 5: Lopez Faces Trial

Leopoldo Lopez’s three day long preliminary hearing ended this morning at around 3:00 AM when the judge officially rendered the verdict: Lopez will go to trial, and he will remain in prison until that time. Lopez faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

The judgement was supposed to be handed out closer to around 7:00 PM, but a last minute request by the attorney general’s office (which has drawn the ire of Lopez’s lawyers) delayed the ruling.

The delay was caused by the fact that originally, the attorney general had listed itself as the victim in the case, since its headquarters were vandalized on February 12, hence the accusations. Leopoldo’s lawyers had picked up on this immediately, and had been saying for weeks that victims can’t also be investigators in the same case. Towards the end of the day yesterday, the prosecution filed a motion to have the attorney general scratched out from the “victims” column in the charges, which the judge granted. Juan Carlos Gutierrez, one of Lopez’s lawyers, said yesterday:

The attorney general, by declaring itself a victim, could hardly carry out the necessary impartial investigation, and that could be seen by the fact that some of the experts it used to back up its accusations serve in the PSUV and have openly expressed their hostility towards Lopez…

Lopez is being charged with four crimes: arson, instigating violence, associating with people for the purposes of committing crimes, and damages to public property. These charges stem from the events of February 12, when a crowd of demonstrators threw rocks at the attorney general’s offices in Caracas, and partially set fire to it. This is the gist of the accusations, from the charges filed by the Public Ministry:

Leopoldo Lopez… made calls to violence, contempt of the legitimate authorities and to disobey laws which caused the unmeasured attack by a group of people who acted individually, but [whose actions were] determined by the speeches of the named citizen, against the headquarters of the Public Ministry.

Speaking after the decision, Gutierrez said:

There have been very serious situations, for example, the fact that evidence presented by the defence was once again silenced and rejected. In this way, we are going into this trial completely bound, completely silent in terms of being able to prove [his innocence]. This situation is very harmful to the truth and to rights [in general].

Lopez’s lawyers expect that the trial will begin at the end of August, and that the trial will be disturbingly short.

Voluntad Popular, Lopez’s party, has called for a demonstration in solidarity with Lopez and to protest this morning’s decision. Freddy Guevara, the current head of Voluntad Popular, said:

We will defeat the government peacefully. There are more free consciences than jails (…) our struggle is peaceful and we will continue to fight to win liberty and democracy.

In Other News

Maria Corina Machado was formally served papers in connection with the alleged conspiracy she is accused of spearheading against the Maduro government. Machado is being summoned to appear before a judge to make a preliminary statement on the charges on June 16.

The staff of an Abastos Bicentenario, a state-owned supermarket chain, staged a protest today in the Los Ruices neighbourhood of Caracas. They blocked a local road, and were demanding that the current president of the supermarket chain, who is in the process of being replaced, be allowed to keep her post. Fabiana Rodriguez, one of the workers, said:

We don’t want them to change her. She has worked for the rights of the workers, and that’s why we’re protesting. We want her to stay.

Below is a picture of the protest, with the workers blocking the road on the top right of the image:

Opinion

What’s really interesting about the government’s case against Leopoldo Lopez is that it essentially concedes Lopez never encouraged violence. The incitement came through subliminal message(s). The government’s “evidence” was a handful of speeches made by Lopez between January 23 and February 12, as well as his Twitter account.

To understand how bizarre the government’s logic is, here is part of a speech made by Lopez in the Plaza Brion of Caracas on February 2, 2014:

This struggle, brothers, sisters, must be carried out clearly and have a clear methodology, based on non-violence. Non-violence has been the most effective method of struggle invented by oppressed people. Non-violence does not mean apathy, non-violence does not mean keeping your head down, non-violence does not mean retreating. Non-violence means not being afraid, it means defiance, non-violence means being on the streets, non-violence means having a state of mind which does not allow us to be manipulated.
Our calling is for change, our space is the street, our strategy is non-violence. Our commitment is to find the exit, and it is there in the constitution.

Leopoldo Lopez wrote in his 57 page defence that the government argues that while he did not call for violence explicitly, some of the people who might have listened to his speeches ended up acting violently later. In other words, the fact that some demonstrators acted violently at a point in time later than speeches made by Lopez means that Lopez is responsible for that violence.

The argument is ridiculous on its own, but is taken to a different level when you consider some of the things PSUV officials have said publicly. Just last night, Diosdado Cabello spoke at an event held for the Bolivar-Chavez Battle Units, and said:

The first vice-president of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela(PSUV), Diosado Cabello, asserted that the Unidades de Batalla Bolivar-Chavez(UBch) are an organization for making revolution on the streets with the people, “listening to what people say, because this is a socialist revolution”.

Will Diosdado Cabello be held responsible for any violent acts that happen from here on involving UBch members? I’m not saying that he should be, but Leopoldo Lopez is for having committed essentially the same crime – that is, no crime at all.

There is also the case of governor Ameliach of Carabobo, who infamously Tweeted on February 16:

UBCH, prepare yourselves for the devastating counter attack. Diosdado will give the order #YankeesAndFascistsRespect

Two days later, Genesis Carmona was mortally wounded at a demonstration in Carabobo. Guess how Ameliach’s trial is going?