Jailed Venezuela opposition leader charged with public incitement

[MADem]

Way to give the guy more power...make him able to "incite" from jail. He's not the only focus of the demonstrations, either--very strange that they're laying it all on him. Like they are looking for a scapegoat.

But what they are making is .... a martyr.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/04/world/americas/venezuela-opposition-leader/

....General Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz announced the charges at a press conference in Caracas, a day before the legal deadline to keep Lopez in custody expires.
Lopez, 42, a former mayor and presidential candidate, has been held in a military jail for well more than a month. The government of President Nicolas Maduro originally accused him of terrorism and murder, but those charges were later dropped.
He is accused of inciting anti-government protests throughout Venezuela that began February 12.
Venezuela's state run news agency said that 39 people have died and more than 600 injured in clashes.
The government blames the protests on "a wave of violence fostered by right-wing leaders in the country."
If found guilty, Lopez could face nearly 14 years in prison....

[joshcryer]

1. So they lowered the charges.

[MADem]

2. The charges still remaining are stupid as hell. All they are doing is making one player (out

of MANY leaders who are protesting--in fact, if anyone is "leading" it's the students, not the professional politicians) a martyr.

Diosdado escorted him to jail. Ya gotta wonder if Cabello is playing long ball, and wants to fire up a coalition government after he puts out a banana peel for Maburro to slip on....what better way to consolidate power than to bring a member of the opposition, particularly one who was forced to suffer in prison, into the tent?

Stranger things have happened....

[joshcryer]

3. Why would they add incitement at the last minute?

Because the rest of the charges wouldn't hold worth shit. At minimum Lopez could have been argued to "incite" but the other charges were bogus.

Then since the Venezuelan constitution allows for protest, the incitement charge is bogus, but they had to do something that they thought could stick.

They can't make a martyr of Lopez. But they can put him away for a couple of years on an incitement charge and hope it works. Have to wonder if Cabello is the one behind this "new charge."

[MADem]

4. I think Diosdado has the guy "on ice." I think he might want to use him down the line.

Cabello is no ardent fan of Cuba, that's why he didn't get the nod even though many thought he was closer to Hugo--at least before Hugo got sick and needed that treatment from the Cuban doctors (they killed him, he should have gone to Brazil, they are doing wonderful things against cancer). But Maduro was more of Raul's reliable puppy, and he's easier to manipulate from Havana. That's why there are so many Cubans "helping" the National Guard with their suppression activities.

I understand they reached the "charge him, or let him go" day, which is why they brought forward these charges. I think they are making tactical and strategic errors with this guy. Maybe they figure he's more likely to be conciliatory if he is looking at fourteen years in jail...?

[joshcryer]

5. Hell, if he asked, the US would've accepted him.

And I know none of the chavistas here would believe it, but had he asked the US for treatment, he'd probably still be alive. Cuba has the worst neoplasm reduction rate of the entire north-south American continent (hint: they have really good preventative health care, but once you get sick, you're fucked). Brazil would've been good, and the offer was extended, but the US would've knocked the cancer right out. Unless it was pancreatic which it doesn't sound like it was. Sounded like a colon thing.

I doubt Lopez will budge, he's likely being fed information about the ongoing protests, and hopes that they are sustainable. If they are, he gets released in a couple of years as the top dog, if not, well, he dies in jail, but I think the fact that he allowed himself to be arrested that way, he accepted his fate. The glory of South American Catholicism Sacrifice...

[MADem]

6. Yes. Of course USA would have taken him on--we have "relations" with VZ, even though they

like to paint us as the enemy when it suits the ruling regime's purposes. And we would likely have cured him, though he may have had to join the "bag" club with Fidel, since he let it go for so long.

It was colon, I think and spread to his stomach and he had this nasty baseball that kept growing back. Eventually it got into his bones and the pain was close to intractable. All the while, people here and there kept insisting he was "cured" as the guy blew up from the steroids and was at the same time malnourished. Horrible way to die, even worse is that they kept his dead shell on a ventilator so it would stay fresh until they figured out what to do -- not "Weekend at Bernie's" but instead "Fortnight at Hugo's."

Horrible. Abuse of a corpse, IMO.

I don't know if Lopez could sustain the Martyr's Grace for a 14 year period and that's how long they could keep him if they really wanted to be shitty . Juan Requesens, if they don't kill that kid, is making more sense than any of the professionals.