martes, 19 de mayo de 2015

Honores para luchadores democráticos venezolanos en el Congreso de los Estados Unidos


En Washington honran a los prisioneros políticos venezolanos y al activismo que lucha por la democracia.
El 14 de Mayo, en el edificio Sam Rayburn del Congreso de los Estados Unidos se llevó a cabo un acto de reconocimiento y defensa de los prisioneros políticos venezolanos, de los defensores de los derechos humanos, estudiantes y sindicalistas quienes hoy dan la batalla por la restitución de la libertad y la democracia en el país asfixiado por un narco-régimen. En representación de estos luchadores presos estuvieron presentes Lilian Tintori, Mitzi Capriles de Ledezma, esposas de leopoldo López y de Antonio Ledezma respectivamente, y Tamara Sujú, quien fue premiada por su actividad en defensa de los derechos humanos.
Este evento fue organizado por el National Endowment for Democracy, organización que cuenta con el apoyo de los partidos Demócrata y Republicano de los Estados Unidos.
En la presentación del evento, el presidente de la organización anfirtiona, Carl Gershman, dijo:
  “The presentation of the 2015 Democracy Award is an opportunity to honor the sacrifice of those who risk everything to preserve Venezuela’s democracy: political leaders and elected officials like Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, as well as a broad spectrum of student activists, labor unionists, human rights defenders, and others jailed for their political activism and efforts to exercise their democratic rights in Venezuela, and who are represented so capably by Tamara Sujú.”
Diversos miembros del congreso hicieron intervenciones para enfatizar la lucha que llevan a cabo los demócratas venezolanos presos del régimen abusivo:   House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce (R-CA), Ranking Foreign Affairs Committee Democrat Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY), and NED Board member Rep. Peter Roskam (R- IL). 
Las tres personas quienes recibieron el reconocimiento fueron:
Antonio Ledezma is the Mayor of Caracas and was arrested in February 2015 when heavily armed government thugs stormed his office and seized him for conspiring to overthrow the state. Elected Mayor in 2008, he was promptly stripped off most of his budget and authority by the Chávez government. Despite these limitations, he was reelected mayor in 2013. Ledezma previously served as a
congressman, senator and governor; he currently leads the opposition party Alianza Bravo Pueblo. He has been held in the Ramo Verde Prison and was recently hospitalized for emergency medical treatment.
Leopoldo López has been detained in the prison of Ramo Verde since February 2014. He was accused of inciting violence during the wave of social protests that took place in early 2014. López leads the opposition party Voluntad Popular and is the former mayor of the Chacao municipality in Caracas,
where he earned a reputation for honesty and efficiency. He was disqualified from holding public office for six years, starting in 2008, as a result of administrative sanctions due to alleged corruption.
Tamara Sujú is a Venezuelan lawyer and human rights activist. She is the founder of FUNDAPRES, a foundation that brings aid to prisons in Venezuela, and is president of the NGO Nueva Conciencia Nacional and Director of Fundación Damas de Blanco de Venezuela. She is also the International
Coordinator of Foro Penal Venezolano. She is currently exiled in the Czech Republic where she continues to raise international awareness on the deteriorating human rights situation in Venezuela.

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