Galery

1

In an official statement released a few days ago, Athens and Thessaloniki mayors George Kaminis and Yiannis Boutaris opposed the way in which the mayor of Venezuela's capital and a prominent opposition figure Antonio Ledezma was arrested. He was arrested and sent to detention on charges of complicity in the attempted coup against the country's president Nicolas Maduro.

According to witnesses, including Ledezma’s wife and opposition MP, members of the Venezuelan secret services had taken the mayor of Caracas out from his office, without explaining the reasons for the arrest.

The decision of the Government of Venezuela provoked strong reactions among the international community. The Athens and Thessaloniki mayors joined them, emphasizing the following in their official statement, "We unite our voices with those who oppose actions such as the arrest of Antonio Ledezma, because they are directed against human rights, freedom of expression of different opinions and independence of the judiciary."

The text also notes that Ledezma was repeatedly elected MP and mayor, and in 2010, he ranked sixth in the world ranking for "best mayor". "He is a leading political figure in Venezuela," emphasized Kaminis and Boutaris, referring to international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, according to which the motives behind the arrest of Ledezma are political.

Photo: forbes.com

The initiative of the Greek mayors provoked a response on the part of the Venezuelan government. The country's ambassador in Athens Farid Fernandez sent them an open letter, stating that the mayor of Caracas was arrested "under a court order and in full respect of all human and constitutional rights." At the same time, the Ambassador expressed regret that the Greek mayors became victims of "the terrible media war against Venezuela from the moment in which its people decided [...] to take the path of socialism."

In his letter, Fernandez stresses that political representatives who supported the government were arrested in the past and that no post or political appointment provides immunity to arrest. In his words, the Mayor of Caracas is a representative of the extreme right and "is accused of involvement in an attempted coup, which aimed to overthrow the legitimate and democratic government of President Nicolas Maduro by air-raiding the presidency and other big targets in Caracas."

"More than seven charges were raised against Antonio Ledezma during his political career. Two of them were for crimes against citizens, one for complicity in the murder of 200 prisoners from the prison in Katia, two for corruption and one for political persecution against 2,252 municipal employees in Caracas, because of their socialist beliefs."

At the end of his letter Fernandez describes the Bolivarian Revolution with warm words and points out that the number of hungry and illiterate citizens in Venezuela has decreased thanks to it. He invites Kaminis and Boutaris to visit his country to see for themselves that "the campaign, which seeks to undermine the homeland of Bolivar" has misled them.