Exiled Activist Discusses Biden’s Stance on Venezuela

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: what do you expect from a Joe Biden administration?

LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST: Well, first of all, thank you very much, Christiane. Thank you. And thanks to CNN and everybody that has been following the situation in Venezuela. As you say, Venezuela has become a very tragic situation for millions of people. And the source of that tragedy is political. It’s Nicolas Maduro, Nicolas Maduro as a brutal dictator. And you asked me, why have not been freedom reached to Venezuela yet? And the reason, the answer for that is that Maduro is a dictator, a brutal dictator that has used all his capacities, all the power, all the funds that he has for repression, for persecution, incarceration and maintaining power. It’s been very difficult for the Venezuelan people. And we appreciate the support that we have gotten from the international community, from the American administration, from the Trump administration. There has been a clear stance for freedom in Venezuela. But that has not been a position only by Republicans or the Trump administration. It has been, for a while, a bipartisan position. Before the Trump administration, it was the Obama administration that presented Maduro as a threat to U.S. security And that led the way for tough sanctions. And now, of course, we’re heading into a new administration. And that will mean for us that the position of being very strong against the dictatorship should remain, because it has been a bipartisan position.

AMANPOUR: As you say–

LOPEZ: Juan Guaido–

(CROSSTALK)

LOPEZ: I’m sorry?

AMANPOUR: Sorry to interrupt you, as you say, a bipartisan — you’re right, a bipartisan position in the United States. So, let me just play what Joe Biden said recently. It was actually in Florida when he was campaigning for this election. This is what he said about Venezuela and about Maduro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: We should be leading the international effort to confront the massive humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Maduro, who I have met, is a dictator, plain and simple. And he’s causing incredible suffering among the Venezuelan people to maintain his grip on power. The Venezuelan people need our support to recover their democracy and rebuild their country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So, what do you specifically want a new administration to do? What can they do differently than the previous administration?

LOPEZ: Well, the most important thing is that, as you just played Joe Biden, president-elect Biden, stating that Maduro is a dictator, that Maduro is the source of the tragedy for the Venezuelan people. And the first thing that we hope is that that strong position remains