The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, asked the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) to revoke the nationality of opposition leader Leopoldo López, who he accused of calling for “a military invasion” of the country, announced this Saturday, October 25, the executive vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.
According to a statement shared by the person responsible on the social network Telegram, Maduro, who called the aforementioned appeal “grotesque, criminal and illegal”, presented a request to the TSJ on Friday to “withdraw López’s nationality”, accusing him of “promoting the economic blockade” and “inciting the mass murder of Venezuelans in complicity with foreign governments and enemies”.
The Minister of Hydrocarbons also indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Identification, Migration and Immigration Service (SAIME) “will immediately proceed, in accordance with the procedures, to cancel the passport” of the opposition leader, who is in exile in Spain.
“The Venezuelan State has sufficient resources to guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic against foreign powers and those who seek to undermine national independence,” he said, cited by Spanish news agency EFE.
Rodríguez explained that the request was made based on article 130 of the National Constitution, which establishes that Venezuelans “have the duty to honor and defend the homeland, its symbols and cultural values; safeguard and protect sovereignty, nationality, territorial integrity, self-determination and the interests of the nation”.
The vice president also cites the “Simón Bolívar Libertador Organic Law”, approved in November last year, which determines penalties such as imprisonment, fines or political disqualification for individuals who promote or are involved, in any way, with foreign sanctions.
The Constitution also establishes, in article 35, that Venezuelans “by birth cannot be deprived of their nationality” and that this “can only be revoked by judicial decision”.
According to EFE, The request was made after López stated that negotiations are no longer useful in achieving political changes in his country and that the solution may involve pressure from the United States, which maintains a military deployment in the Caribbean Sea, close to Venezuelan waters, which Caracas sees as a threat to provoke a “regime change”.
López stated that he even supports an American attack on Venezuelan soil to overthrow Maduro.
In an interview with EFE in Madrid, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition supported the North American naval mobilization and stated that, in his opinion, “advances must be made towards objectives within the national territory”.
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