by Stephen Lendman

Lopez is a US-funded anti-Bolivarian fascist politician. In January 2014, he and defrocked former National Assembly member Maria Corina Machado launched a La Salida (the Exit) campaign, openly calling for replacing Venezuela’s government.

Street violence followed for months. Dozens died, many others injured and arrested. February 2014, Lopez was detained.

At the time, prosecutors held him responsible for murder, terrorism, conspiracy, incitement to crime, setting fire to a public building, damaging public property, public intimidation, and inflicting serious injuries.

President Nicholas Maduro compared him to 2002 coup plotters. “There you have the face of fascism,” he said. “They should go behind bars. For us, what's important is to govern and to make sure that groups like these don't do any more damage to the country.”

Last December, Venezuela's state prosecutor's office indicted Machado - charging her with conspiracy in a plot to assassinate Maduro.

Email evidence was damning - Machado saying "I believe the time has come to join forces, make the necessary calls, and obtain the financing to annihilate Maduro…and the rest will come falling down."

Venezuela's public prosecutor's office said:

“Whoever, from inside or outside the national territory, conspires to destroy the nation's republican political style will be punished by eight to 16 years in prison.”

In July 2014, Lopez’s trial began, punctuated by delays. It remains ongoing. On August 31, Telesur said Venezuela’s Public Prosecutor’s office issued a statement saying exhaustive investigation proved Lopez’s guilt.

“After 70 hearings in the case and 108 examined evidence, the Prosecutor's Office concluded that Lopez publicly called upon his supporters to attack the government building, an event in which six government vehicles and the building's library were set on fire, in February 2014,” Telesur explained.

He posted over 700 Twitter messages - promoting protests and opposition to Venezuelan authorities.

The Public Prosecutor said evidence showed his aim “was to alter the peaceful coexistence between Venezuelans, defy the authority of the country’s institutions and disregard the law.”

His trial may be nearing an end. Sentencing could come in weeks. He was involved in the aborted 2002 two-day coup against Chavez - saved from prosecution by a presidential general amnesty. He’s gotten National Endowment of Democracy (NED) funding since the Bush administration.

He, likeminded Venezuelan fascists and Washington want Bolivarian fairness ended - replaced by governance for privileged interests exclusively, returning the nation to US client state status.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.