The regime of Nicolás Maduro announced this Saturday the immediate withdrawal of the passport of Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López, resident in Spain, as well as the opening of a process to withdraw his nationality.
“The Foreign Ministry and SAIME (Administrative Service of Identification, Migration and Foreign Affairs) will proceed immediately, in accordance with the relevant procedures, to cancel the passport of the aforementioned person,” reported the vice president of the dictatorship, Delcy Rodríguez, in a message published on social media.
Venezuela's dictator, Nicolás Maduro, himself, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Justice to revoke Leopoldo López's nationality, Rodríguez said.
The official explained that the request is based on Article 130 of the Venezuelan Constitution, which states that Venezuelan citizens"have the duty to honor and defend the homeland, its symbols and cultural values; to safeguard and protect the sovereignty, nationality, territorial integrity, self-determination, and interests of the nation."
The vice president thus denounced " his grotesque, criminal and illegal call for a military invasion of Venezuela, the permanent promotion of the economic blockade, as well as the call to mass murder Venezuelans in complicity with foreign governments and enemies," she said.
"The Venezuelan State has sufficient resources to guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic against foreign powers and those willing to undermine national independence," he concluded.
López has been living in Spain since October 2020 after spending almost seven years imprisoned in Venezuela.
In one of his last public interventions, López said that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to María Corina Machado is also a recognition of “ a people determined to change ”.
“ Congratulations to Maria Corina Machado for this well-deserved recognition of your courage and tireless fight for democracy, freedom and human rights ,” said López.
Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize this month"for her tireless work promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," according to the Oslo-based Norwegian Nobel Committee.
López noted that this award “ also honors the strength of a people determined to change, who will stop nothing and no one until they achieve a free and democratic Venezuela.”
López led the opposition to then-President Hugo Chávez until he was disqualified from running in the 2008 Caracas mayoral elections. He was also an opponent of Nicolás Maduro and was imprisoned in 2018 following protests against the regime.
