Leopoldo López
Encyclopedia
Leopoldo López Mendoza (born 29 April 1971 in Caracas
) is a Venezuela
n politician and economist. From 2000 until 2008, López was the mayor of the Chacao Municipality
of Caracas. A 2006 Los Angeles Times
article describes López as an immensely popular leader of the opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
, as well as a social activist working for "grass-roots judicial reform". He is sanctioned by the Venezuela's Justice and he cannot run for public office until 2014; however in a case brought by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
against Chávez for violating the human rights of opposition candidates by disqualifying them from running for election for administrative reasons in 2010, the court reached a unanimous decision in favour of Lopez.
in the U.S. state of Ohio. He subsequently attended Harvard University
's Kennedy School of Government where he obtained a Master of Public Policy
in 1996. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from his Alma Mater, Kenyon College. In May 2007 he married Lilian Tintori, with whom he had a daughter in 2009.
López' mother, Antonieta Mendoza, is the daughter of Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa
, who was Secretary of Agriculture for two years during the brief democratic period from 1945 to 1948. Through her, López is the great-great-great-grandson of the country's first president, Cristóbal Mendoza
. Leopoldo López is the great-great-great-great-great nephew of Simón Bolívar
.
López worked as an economic consultant to the Planning Vice-President in Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.
(PDVSA) between 1996 and 1999, and has served as a professor of Institutional Economy in the Economics Department at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello
.
political party. In 2007 he joined the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo. López was elected mayor of Chacao in 2000 with 51% of the vote, and re-elected in 2004, gaining 81% of the vote; the LA Times described him in 2006 as "immensely popular".
On 5 December 2009 in the state of Carabobo
, López launched the party Movimiento Voluntad Popular. Voluntad Popular (English: Popular Will) aims to overcome poverty without concentrating more power or eliminating the state of law.
mentioned actions taken against López by the Venezuelan government in its 2005 annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices. López was suspended in November 2005 from political activity after his term as mayor expires in 2008 because of allegations of misuse of funds; according to the US State Department, the charges were part of "a strategy by the Chávez government to eliminate the political opposition". According to the Los Angeles Times
, López says "his real offense is that he poses an electoral threat as he builds a social democratic alternative to the socialist, anti-American 'Bolivarian Revolution
'."
According to the Times article, Chávez critics say all government dissidents are being targeted, but "Lopez seems to be the object of a full-out campaign". His aunt was also a victim of violence in Venezuela, shot during a peaceful rally.
As a leader of the Chávez opposition, López says he has experienced several violent attacks: the Los Angeles Times
says he has been shot at and was held hostage in February 2006 by armed thugs at a university where he was speaking and his bodyguard was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of the car where López normally sits. According to the LA Times "the killing of his bodyguard was meant to send a message". According to Jackson Diehl
, writing for the Washington Post, in June 2008, after López returned from a visit to Washington, D.C., he was detained and assaulted by the state intelligence service. A member of the Venezuelan National Guard
, a military corp on command of Hugo Chávez presidency, denounced López as responsible for the aggression and presented a video as evidence.
due to being under investigation for alleged corruption; 80 percent of those barred belong to the opposition. The November elections are crucial for the Chávez administration to remain in control; following Chávez's defeat at the polls in December 2007
, López says the government banned them because it knows they can win. As the best known politician on the list, López is contesting the sanction, arguing that the right to hold elected office can only be rescinded in the wake of a civil or criminal trial. In June 2008, López made his case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) in Washington, D.C.; in July, the Commission agreed to hear his case and noted that the two years that have elapsed since López filed a motion asking the Court to annul the ban constitutes an "undue delay".
A poll in April 2008 found that 52% of adults opposed the ban, and 51% thought it was politically motivated. The US State Department said the attempt to rule by decree was "worrisome"; Chávez responded saying that concerns were "overblown".
Although no individuals have been convicted of any crimes and charges remain unproven, in August 2008, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal
dominated by Chávez appointeesfound that the sanction of the Comptroller General was constitutional. According to the Wall Street Journal, six of the seven Supreme Court justices "are sympathetic to the president". BBC News called the list of individuals barred from office a "blacklist", noting that "there is little that Mr López and others can now do that will allow them to take part in November's polls". The Economist observed that López is the "main apparent target" of the "decision by the auditor-general to ban hundreds of candidates from standing in the state and municipal elections for alleged corruption, even though none has been convicted by the courts". The Wall Street Journal noted that the ban "has elicited comparisons to moves by Iran's government preventing opposition politicians from running in elections in that country" and singles López out as "a popular opposition politician who polls say would have a good chance at becoming the mayor of Caracas, one of the most important posts in the country".
The next day, López and others protested the ruling in a demonstration, until they were blocked in front of a government building. López led protesters on the unauthorized march through Caracas; riot police threw tear gas canisters into the crowd of about 1,000 marchers, protesting Chávez's concentration of power.
López filed a complaint with the Mercosur
Human Rights Committee; the Mercosur parliament session was disrupted and the Committee was unable to reach conclusions because they couldn't meet with authorities in Venezuela. José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch
"described political discrimination as a defining feature of Mr. Chávez's presidency", singling out López and the "measure that disqualifies candidates from running for public office because of legal claims against them".
(PDVSA) and his mother was the company's manager of public affairs, the company awarded a grant to the Primero Justicia Civil Association, an organization of which López was a member. (The political party, Movimiento Primero Justicia, emerged in 1999 as an offshoot of the civil association.) Because PDVSA forbids donations to employees or relatives of employees, both mother and son were sanctioned from running for public office. Jackson Diehl
wrote in The Washington Post that "the charges against López, never tested in court, are a blatantly bogus concoction."
The Associated Press reported that the use of the charges to disqualify López "is a tactic critics say Chavez uses to put his opponents' political ambitions on indefinite hold." The Organization of American States cited the case against López as one of the "factors that contribute to the weakening of the rule of law and democracy in Venezuela." López has challenged these claims by stating that none of those punished had been charged, prosecuted, and found guilty through due processes of law, in direct violation of the Human Rights treatises signed by the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan constitution.
The government of Venezuela maintains that the sanctions were legal. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights
published on 16 September 2011 a unanimous decision, ruling that Lopez "should be allowed to run for office", regardless of previous ban imposed by the Chavez administration. The Carter Center
equated Venezuela's Supreme Court decision to disregard the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' decision to the military courts of Alberto Fujimori
: "We note with concern that to our knowledge, with the exception of the military courts rulings during the Fujimori regime, this is the only country in the hemisphere where the merits rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have been rejected by the Supreme Court in expressly declaring them non-binding and unenforceable."
He has also made a call to educational communities, similar to a PTA
, or a popular net (red popular), a school grassroot movement, in each school to ensure the quality of schools and the education received by children and youth. "A people´s net in each school"
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
) is a Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n politician and economist. From 2000 until 2008, López was the mayor of the Chacao Municipality
Chacao Municipality, Miranda
Chacao Municipality, is one of the five political and administrative subdivisions of the city of Caracas, Venezuela. The other four are Baruta, El Hatillo, Libertador and Sucre. This legal entity is known as the Caracas Metropolitan District...
of Caracas. A 2006 Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article describes López as an immensely popular leader of the opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
, as well as a social activist working for "grass-roots judicial reform". He is sanctioned by the Venezuela's Justice and he cannot run for public office until 2014; however in a case brought by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
against Chávez for violating the human rights of opposition candidates by disqualifying them from running for election for administrative reasons in 2010, the court reached a unanimous decision in favour of Lopez.
Personal and professional life and education
López was born in Caracas on 29 April 1971, the second of three brothers. López spent his early years studying at the Colegio Santiago de León de Caracas. Between 1989 and 1993, he studied Sociology at Kenyon CollegeKenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
in the U.S. state of Ohio. He subsequently attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
's Kennedy School of Government where he obtained a Master of Public Policy
Master of Public Policy
The Master of Public Policy , one of several public policy degrees, is a master's level professional degree that provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to public policy and the...
in 1996. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from his Alma Mater, Kenyon College. In May 2007 he married Lilian Tintori, with whom he had a daughter in 2009.
López' mother, Antonieta Mendoza, is the daughter of Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa
Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa
Eduardo Mendoza was a Venezuelan scientific researcher and agricultural engineer. He served the government of Romulo Betancourt, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Venezuelan history at the age of 28. His appointment was problematic due to his young age and required a Constitutional Amendment...
, who was Secretary of Agriculture for two years during the brief democratic period from 1945 to 1948. Through her, López is the great-great-great-grandson of the country's first president, Cristóbal Mendoza
Cristóbal Mendoza
Cristóbal Hurtado de Mendoza was a Venezuelan politician. Cristobal became the first President of Venezuela in 1811.-Biography:...
. Leopoldo López is the great-great-great-great-great nephew of Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
.
López worked as an economic consultant to the Planning Vice-President in Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.
Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. is the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil, as well as exploration and production of natural gas...
(PDVSA) between 1996 and 1999, and has served as a professor of Institutional Economy in the Economics Department at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello
Universidad Católica Andrés Bello
Universidad Católica Andrés Bello is a private university in Venezuela. One of the biggest universities in Venezuela, UCAB has campuses in several cities, such as Caracas , Los Teques, Guayana and Coro....
.
Political life
López cofounded the Primero JusticiaJustice First
Justice First Movement is a centrist political party in Venezuela.-History:Primero Justicia was created in 1992 as a Civil Association by a group of university students who were concerned about what they saw as a deterioration of judicial power in the country and joined their efforts to...
political party. In 2007 he joined the political party Un Nuevo Tiempo. López was elected mayor of Chacao in 2000 with 51% of the vote, and re-elected in 2004, gaining 81% of the vote; the LA Times described him in 2006 as "immensely popular".
On 5 December 2009 in the state of Carabobo
Carabobo
Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...
, López launched the party Movimiento Voluntad Popular. Voluntad Popular (English: Popular Will) aims to overcome poverty without concentrating more power or eliminating the state of law.
Opposition leader: target of violence
The United States Department of StateUnited States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
mentioned actions taken against López by the Venezuelan government in its 2005 annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices. López was suspended in November 2005 from political activity after his term as mayor expires in 2008 because of allegations of misuse of funds; according to the US State Department, the charges were part of "a strategy by the Chávez government to eliminate the political opposition". According to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, López says "his real offense is that he poses an electoral threat as he builds a social democratic alternative to the socialist, anti-American 'Bolivarian Revolution
Bolivarian Revolution
The “Bolivarian Revolution” refers to a leftist social movement and political process in Venezuela led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement...
'."
According to the Times article, Chávez critics say all government dissidents are being targeted, but "Lopez seems to be the object of a full-out campaign". His aunt was also a victim of violence in Venezuela, shot during a peaceful rally.
As a leader of the Chávez opposition, López says he has experienced several violent attacks: the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
says he has been shot at and was held hostage in February 2006 by armed thugs at a university where he was speaking and his bodyguard was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of the car where López normally sits. According to the LA Times "the killing of his bodyguard was meant to send a message". According to Jackson Diehl
Jackson Diehl
Jackson Diehl is the Deputy Editorial Page Editor of The Washington Post. He writes many of the paper's editorials on foreign affairs, helps to oversee the editorial and oped pages and authors a regular column....
, writing for the Washington Post, in June 2008, after López returned from a visit to Washington, D.C., he was detained and assaulted by the state intelligence service. A member of the Venezuelan National Guard
Venezuelan National Guard
The Venezuelan National Guard , also called the Armed Forces of Cooperation , is one of the four components of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. The National Guard can serve as gendarmerie, perform civil defense roles, or serve as a reserve light infantry force...
, a military corp on command of Hugo Chávez presidency, denounced López as responsible for the aggression and presented a video as evidence.
Political target
López is among 400 Venezuelans barred by the Venezuelan government from running in the November 2008 electionsVenezuelan regional elections, 2008
The regional elections of Venezuela were held on Sunday, 23 November 2008, to choose22 governors, 2 metropolitan mayors, 328 mayors and 251 aldermen for a four-year term . These were the first elections to be held since incumbent President Hugo Chávez founded the PSUV.In these elections, 17,308...
due to being under investigation for alleged corruption; 80 percent of those barred belong to the opposition. The November elections are crucial for the Chávez administration to remain in control; following Chávez's defeat at the polls in December 2007
Venezuelan constitutional referendum, 2007
A constitutional referendum was held in Venezuela on 2 December 2007 to amend 69 articles of the 1999 Constitution. Reform was needed, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, to implement his socialist agenda; detractors said he was using the reforms to become a dictator.The referendum was...
, López says the government banned them because it knows they can win. As the best known politician on the list, López is contesting the sanction, arguing that the right to hold elected office can only be rescinded in the wake of a civil or criminal trial. In June 2008, López made his case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...
(IACHR) in Washington, D.C.; in July, the Commission agreed to hear his case and noted that the two years that have elapsed since López filed a motion asking the Court to annul the ban constitutes an "undue delay".
A poll in April 2008 found that 52% of adults opposed the ban, and 51% thought it was politically motivated. The US State Department said the attempt to rule by decree was "worrisome"; Chávez responded saying that concerns were "overblown".
Although no individuals have been convicted of any crimes and charges remain unproven, in August 2008, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal
Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Venezuela)
The Supreme Tribunal of Justice is the highest court of law in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and is the head of the judicial branch.The Supreme Tribunal may meet either in specialized chambers or in plenary session...
dominated by Chávez appointeesfound that the sanction of the Comptroller General was constitutional. According to the Wall Street Journal, six of the seven Supreme Court justices "are sympathetic to the president". BBC News called the list of individuals barred from office a "blacklist", noting that "there is little that Mr López and others can now do that will allow them to take part in November's polls". The Economist observed that López is the "main apparent target" of the "decision by the auditor-general to ban hundreds of candidates from standing in the state and municipal elections for alleged corruption, even though none has been convicted by the courts". The Wall Street Journal noted that the ban "has elicited comparisons to moves by Iran's government preventing opposition politicians from running in elections in that country" and singles López out as "a popular opposition politician who polls say would have a good chance at becoming the mayor of Caracas, one of the most important posts in the country".
The next day, López and others protested the ruling in a demonstration, until they were blocked in front of a government building. López led protesters on the unauthorized march through Caracas; riot police threw tear gas canisters into the crowd of about 1,000 marchers, protesting Chávez's concentration of power.
López filed a complaint with the Mercosur
Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...
Human Rights Committee; the Mercosur parliament session was disrupted and the Committee was unable to reach conclusions because they couldn't meet with authorities in Venezuela. José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
"described political discrimination as a defining feature of Mr. Chávez's presidency", singling out López and the "measure that disqualifies candidates from running for public office because of legal claims against them".
Banning from public office
In 1998, while López was working for Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. is the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil, as well as exploration and production of natural gas...
(PDVSA) and his mother was the company's manager of public affairs, the company awarded a grant to the Primero Justicia Civil Association, an organization of which López was a member. (The political party, Movimiento Primero Justicia, emerged in 1999 as an offshoot of the civil association.) Because PDVSA forbids donations to employees or relatives of employees, both mother and son were sanctioned from running for public office. Jackson Diehl
Jackson Diehl
Jackson Diehl is the Deputy Editorial Page Editor of The Washington Post. He writes many of the paper's editorials on foreign affairs, helps to oversee the editorial and oped pages and authors a regular column....
wrote in The Washington Post that "the charges against López, never tested in court, are a blatantly bogus concoction."
The Associated Press reported that the use of the charges to disqualify López "is a tactic critics say Chavez uses to put his opponents' political ambitions on indefinite hold." The Organization of American States cited the case against López as one of the "factors that contribute to the weakening of the rule of law and democracy in Venezuela." López has challenged these claims by stating that none of those punished had been charged, prosecuted, and found guilty through due processes of law, in direct violation of the Human Rights treatises signed by the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan constitution.
The government of Venezuela maintains that the sanctions were legal. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
published on 16 September 2011 a unanimous decision, ruling that Lopez "should be allowed to run for office", regardless of previous ban imposed by the Chavez administration. The Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
equated Venezuela's Supreme Court decision to disregard the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' decision to the military courts of Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...
: "We note with concern that to our knowledge, with the exception of the military courts rulings during the Fujimori regime, this is the only country in the hemisphere where the merits rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have been rejected by the Supreme Court in expressly declaring them non-binding and unenforceable."
Political platform
The Associated Press calls López "the man who is challenging President Hugo Chávez's grip on power." On December 5, 2009 in Valencia forum in Carabobo, López launched Voluntad Popular. The Associated Press reported of the launch, "the mere fact that Lopez's efforts are resonating with ordinary Venezuelans shows that the democratic spirit still burns in the nation of 28 million." López said of the movement, "What we want is to build a new majority from the bottom up - not just through negotiations and agreements between elites. It's a longer road, but for us, it's the only road that gives us possibilities of winning."Education
López has said several times that to have better schools the political parties, community organizations and civil society should be organized to consolidate a true bastion of quality education. "We here do not talk about infrastructure, quality of training, staffing of schools; we Venezuelans want to send our children to quality schools, where they can not only learn Castilian or math, but also acquire values and be formed as wholly complete beings ".He has also made a call to educational communities, similar to a PTA
PTA
-Organizations:* Andalusia Technology Park , a science park in Málaga, Spain* Parent-Teacher Association* Pakistan Telecommunication Authority* Passenger transport authority, a United Kingdom local government authority...
, or a popular net (red popular), a school grassroot movement, in each school to ensure the quality of schools and the education received by children and youth. "A people´s net in each school"
Community development
López said that "... part of the solution is to have community organization and we can fix the situation of Venezuela only by promoting culture, sport and employment".Awards
- Kenyon CollegeKenyon CollegeKenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
Honoris Causa DoctorateDoctorateA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
Law 2007. - Premio Transparencia 2008, to the most transparent city mayor of Venezuela, granted by the Venezuela branch of Transparency InternationalTransparency InternationalTransparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...