Jailed Venezuela activist dispels rumours of health emergency
CARACAS, Venezuela — The wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez rushed to Caracas’ military hospital late Wednesday seeking information on her husband after a report on social media said he had been taken there with a medical emergency — a scare that proved to be wrong.
“Please, can you inform us if anyone brought Leopoldo here? Did he enter or not?” Lilian Tintori could be heard pleading tearfully through the metal bars at the hospital’s entrance.
Within hours, the leader of Venezuela’s ruling socialist party, Diosdado Cabello, deflated the frenzied rumours by showing on state television a 20-second video in which Lopez appears in good health and says he is speaking at “May 3 at 9 p.m.”
“I don’t understand why they want me to send a proof of life,” Lopez says, looking muscular in a white tank top and standing with arms crossed in front of prison bars. “I’m sending this message to my family, to my kids, to say I’m fine.” The video cuts off abruptly.