Former presidents Piñera and Pastrana were prevented from visiting Leopoldo López

EFE

The former presidents of Chile Sebastián Piñera and Colombia Andrés Pastrana were prevented yesterday to enter the military prison near Caracas where the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López is imprisoned, whom they tried to visit.

“We came to visit him (Lopez) and we’re very sad, because we had not the opportunity to greet a friend and the chance to greet a political prisoner, to be clear,” Pastrana said outside the military prison Ramo Verde.

The former conservative rulers had been warned by the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, that the Venezuelan people “repudiate them, reject them” for traveling financed by “drug money.”

Given these statements, Piñera said: “If he wants respect, then he has to respect.” Pastrana, meanwhile, said that “the minimum act of respect for human rights is to visit a prisoner and even more a political prisoner.”

“I hope that this situation changes in Venezuela, hence we will participate in a seminar on what is democracy, freedom and citizenship in Venezuela,” said the Chilean former president.