Washington’s favorite Venezuelan opposition leader exposes links with Colombian paramilitary and narco networks
While the US and its allies glorify Leopoldo López as a new MLK, the US-backed Venezuelan opposition collaborates with Colombia’s narco-affiliated, death squad-sponsoring former President Álvaro Uribe. by Ben Norton Part 7 - Saving face in photo op with liberal Bogotá mayor Leopoldo López’s meeting with Álvaro Uribe triggered condemnations from even staunch supporters of the Venezuelan opposition. The avowedly anti-Chavista Americas director of the billionaire-funded US-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), José Miguel Vivanco, lambasted López for the meeting, calling it a “ grave mistake ” that “ does a lot of damage to his credibility. ” HRW has spent years heroizing the coup-plotting Venezuelan opposition leader, portraying López as a “ prisoner of conscience ” and “ Venezuela’s most prominent political prisoner ” before he was released in a failed coup attempt on April 30, 2019. Vivanco is closely allied with far-right forces across Latin America, and has aggressively lob