12/03/2015
_ Mitzy Capriles: ‘Both continuing the fight and continue calling for democracy are worthwhile’
The former Prime Minister and President of FAES Foundation, José María Aznar, met on Tuesday, March 12 with Mitzy Capriles, wife of the mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, imprisoned since February by the Venezuelan regime. During the meeting, Capriles has given Aznar a letter written by Ledezma himself from prison, where he thanks him for his solidarity and support to the cause of democracy in Venezuela.
In the letter, the mayor of Caracas claims that he is the victim of a ‘kidnap’ and insists that the Venezuelan government, which he considers ‘intolerant and repressive,’ has not ceased to ‘persecute us, taking the heaviest toll for our indomitable will to serve the highest and noblest democratic principles which we serve.’ In this regard, he reminded everyone that ‘the political and civil forces grouped under the MUD continue pressing ahead, confronting the absurdities of this regime that collapses our economy and corners all social sectors in a terrible multiple crisis, besides destroying the essential institutional foundations which serve as mainstay of the Rule of Law’ (full letter).
During the meeting with Mitzy Capriles, Aznar has valued as positive the concern and measures expressed by the United States regarding Venezuela, and appealed to the need for the European Union to strengthen its approach to the cause of democracy in the country. He also expressed his personal commitment and that of the Foundation to encourage the democratic future of Venezuela.
After the meeting, Mitzy Capriles highlighted ‘the support and affection of President Aznar’ and said that ‘this reception represents another guarantee for Antonio Ledezma, another commitment to the democratic struggle he has always fought.’ She also insisted that ‘Venezuelans do not deserve what they are going through’ and that ‘both continuing the fight and continue calling for democracy are worthwhile’ In this regard, she stressed that ‘any political party that doesn't openly condemn the situation in Venezuela does a disservice to the community it seeks to ask for its vote’. As for the state in which her husband is in, she stated: ‘he is stable, he is firm, he is in prison’.
The Secretary-General of FAES, Javier Zarzalejos; the Director of the International Department of the Foundation, Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo; the Senator Dionisio García Cardero and Mitzy Ledezma Capriles, also participated in the meeting, along with Aznar and Capriles.