The Maduro government announced 167 new cases of COVID-19 in Venezuela over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 5,297 since the outbreak began.
Lopez Cries “Fake News” over WSJ Article
Leopoldo Lopez, one of the most influential leaders of the Venezuelan opposition who was once a clear contender for the presidency, cried “fake news” over an article from the Wall Street Journal that was published on Friday.
In the article, the Wall Street Journal claims that Lopez headed a group within the Venezuelan opposition to shop around from among private security contractors to hire mercenaries to “carry out military incursions to spur a rebellion” in Venezuela. The group eventually settled on Silvercorp USA, which helped to launch a disastrous raid into Venezuela in early May called “Operacion Gedeon”.
In a Twitter thread dedicated to thanking journalists for their work on the occasion of Journalist’s Day in Venezuela, Lopez lashed out at the newspaper. He wrote:
Yesterday, [the Wall Street Journal] published a series of completely false accusations against the leaders of Voluntad Popular [Lopez’s party] and myself without any basis or evidence. Moreover, they’ve accused me without presenting any kind of evidence. And they don’t show [the evidence] because it doesn’t exist.
Lopez has been taken refuge inside the Spanish embassy in Caracas since 2019.
Questions/Comments/ Email me: invenezuelablog@gmail.com
In Venezuela 