Venezuela Requests International Arrest Warrant Against Leopoldo Lopez

Leopoldo Lopez (2L), Edmundo Gonzalez (4R), and other far-right activists. X/ @VenezolanoCR

January 13, 2025 Hour: 2:03 pm

This far-right activist called for an international military intervention against the Bolivarian nation.

On Monday, Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced legal actions against far-right activist Leopoldo Lopez, including a request for a Red Notice through Interpol.

During a press conference, Saab presented audiovisual evidence linking Lopez to recent calls for international military intervention made by leaders of the transnational right, such as former Colombian presidents Alvaro Uribe and Ivan Duque.

“This Public Ministry has opened an investigation and has requested an arrest warrant against the fugitive from justice, Leopoldo Lopez,” Saab declared, basing the legal action on multiple judicial grounds.

The charges brought against Lopez include incitement to armed actions (Simon Bolivar Organic Law’s article 12), treason (Penal Code’s Article 128), conspiracy (Penal Code’s article 132), and association to commit crimes (Law Against Organized Crime’s article 37). As central evidence, Saab presented a video in which Uribe explicitly calls for international military intervention.

Working-class Venezuelans are mobilizing against threats of a coup or intervention from the US-backed opposition. Tomorrow, right-wing groups say that they’ll declare their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, as President. pic.twitter.com/bKM3zNsTq5
— red. (@redstreamnet) January 9, 2025

“We are asking for international intervention, preferably authorized by the United Nations, to remove the tyrants from power,” the former Colombian president is heard saying in a meeting in Cucuta.

Saab described these statements as part of a “delusional and new attempt to drench our country in blood.” He also established a direct connection between Uribe’s remarks and Lopez’s promotion of these ideas from abroad via social media.

The Venezuelan attorney emphasized the legal hierarchy of the actions undertaken, noting that the Simon Bolivar law, which underpins part of the charges, holds a status immediately below the Constitution.

Venezuelan authorities have reiterated that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) firmly reject any attempts at foreign intervention, while the judicial system proceeds with international protocols to request Lopez’s capture.

Attorney General Saab referenced the reasons why no country permits military invasions on its territory and displayed images of Libya and other nations devastated by the so-called “humanitarian” interventions of the United States and its allies.