CARACAS,
Venezuela — A prominent Venezuelan opposition leader surrendered to the
authorities on Tuesday in the midst of a large crowd of supporters who
tried to block his arrest on accusations that he was responsible for
violence that erupted during recent antigovernment protests.
Before giving himself up, the opposition politician, Leopoldo López,
walked through a sea of thousands of supporters in the largest rally in
more than two weeks of growing protests fueled by discontent over
runaway violent crime, a stalled economy, government pressure on the
news media and other issues.
“We
are living in a dark time when criminals are rewarded and they want to
imprison the Venezuelans who want peaceful, democratic change,” Mr.
López said, standing on the base of a statue of the 19th-century Cuban
independence hero José Martí. Clutching a Venezuelan flag, he spoke
through a megaphone, and although the large crowd fell into a hush, only
those nearby were able to hear him.
The drama played out a day after the government of President Nicolás Maduro ordered three American diplomats to leave the country,
saying they had been recruiting students to take part in violent
demonstrations, an accusation the State Department denied. On Saturday,
Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement
of concern over the recent violence and the possible arrest of Mr.
López, saying it would have a chilling effect on Venezuelans’ ability to
express their grievances.
Mr.
López, 42, a former mayor of a well-off section of Caracas, has helped
promote the recent protests against Mr. Maduro’s 10-month-old
government.
But
after a march here last Wednesday, a group of a few hundred youths
threw rocks at the police, broke windows in government buildings and set
some police vehicles on fire. Two protesters and a government supporter
were shot to death.
The
government quickly accused Mr. López of being responsible for the
unrest and the deaths, claiming he had trained activists to unleash a
campaign of violence that was part of a coup attempt against Mr. Maduro.
They have provided no evidence for the charges but have demonized Mr.
López in speeches and in programs on government-controlled television
and radio.
Mr.
López, who left the rally last week before the violence started, has
denied he had anything to do with the unrest. He has routinely called
for peaceful protests.
An investigation published in a local newspaper, Últimas Noticias,
which examined photographs and videos taken at the scene of the
shooting of one of the protesters, said it appeared that shots had been
fired into a crowd of demonstrators by a group that included uniformed
security officers and men accompanying them in civilian clothes.
Antigovernment Protests in Venezuela
The opposition leader Leopoldo López appeared at a student-led protest in Caracas.
Local
news media reported the day after the rally that a judge had issued an
arrest warrant for Mr. López, saying that he was wanted on charges that
included murder and terrorism.
At
first Mr. López challenged the authorities to arrest him, but later he
went into hiding. A cat-and-mouse game began as heavily armed officials
looked for him at his home and his parents’ home. Meanwhile, he taunted
Mr. Maduro through Twitter posts, calling him a coward, and Mr. Maduro
railed against him in speeches and television appearances, calling him a
“fascist coward” and a “fugitive from justice.”
The
tension built on Monday when security forces raided the offices of Mr.
López’s political party, Popular Will, kicking down an office door and
drawing guns on startled workers.
Mr.
López told followers in an online video and in Twitter posts that he
would turn himself in after a rally and march on Tuesday.
City
officials said that he did not have a permit and vowed to prevent the
event. Masses of police officers and national guardsmen, many in riot
gear, were in position on Tuesday morning around the plaza designated by
Mr. López for his rally, keeping crowds out.
Instead, thousands of his supporters filled a long city avenue nearby.
Suddenly
a shout went up from the crowd and Mr. López appeared in the midst of
the throng, wearing bluejeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt with a
connect-the-dots map of Venezuela
on the front. Supporters jammed around him, and he made his way to the
Martí statue. After a short speech, he climbed down, and in a press of
supporters and news photographers, reporters and camera operators, he
made his way to a waiting line of riot police officers, holding four
white daisies above his head.
But
the crowd surged through and carried Mr. López for several more blocks,
until he finally arrived at a white armored police vehicle. After
turning to the crowd and holding the flowers and a small Venezuelan flag
over his head in a gesture of defiance, he climbed into the vehicle.
On
a building behind him were posters from last year’s presidential
election, with Mr. Maduro’s mustached face looking placidly down on the
scene.
Hundreds
of people surged around the vehicle, shouting “Freedom!” and “Let him
go!” There was pushing and shoving, and the heavy back door to the
vehicle was pulled from its hinges. Other protesters sat or stood in
front of the vehicle, blocking it.
Finally,
Mr. López, who had declared his intention to surrender peacefully,
spoke over a loudspeaker, urging the members of crowd to let the vehicle
pass. Eventually they did, but his supporters still crowded around and
accompanied it. At one point, when the crowd again refused to let the
vehicle pass, he got out and boarded a black Jeep to continue the trip.
The crowd around the car eventually swelled into the thousands, and Mr.
López’s trip to prison took on a paradelike air.
In
a televised speech at an oil workers’ rally, Mr. Maduro said Mr. López
was being taken to a jail outside Caracas “to answer to justice.”
At
the rally for Mr. López, Garcelis Montilla, 53, a merchant, said she
hoped that public reaction to his arrest would bring about change.
“Leopoldo’s arrest for crimes that he didn’t commit is the drop that
caused the glass to overfill,” she said, using a local saying.
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