Leopoldo Lopez

Leopoldo López Mendoza (born 29 April 1971 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan politician and economist. From 2000 until 2008, López was the mayor of the Chacao Municipality of Caracas. A 2006 Los Angeles Times article describes López as an immensely popular leader of the opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, as well as a social activist working for grass-roots judicial reform. He is sanctioned in Venezuela and cannot run for public office until 2014; however in case brought by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Chávez for violating the human rights of opposition candidates by disqualifying them from running for election for administrative reasons in 2010, the court reached a unanimous decision in favour of Lopez.