Freedom Confined

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On 18 February 2014, the leader of the Popular Will party, Leopoldo López, handed himself over to the Venezuelan authorities. Despite there being no evidence or witnesses, he was blamed for the violence that erupted following the protest of 12 February in Caracas, and that resulted in the deaths of several young people. He was remanded in custody, and a year and half later, in September 2015, the courts of Maduro's regime sentenced him to thirteen years, nine months, seven days and twelve hours in prison, following an unfair trial. This is the unique clandestine diary of Leopoldo López which he wrote as a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience from Ramo Verde military jail. López describes conversations with other prisoners, often behind bars: the visits from his children and his wife, Lilian Tintori, who has become his voice on the outside; his hunger strike; the violent inspections of his cell; the long periods of solitude; his reflections. This is a gripping testimony of López's peaceful resistance against a cruel regime, a dictatorship disguised as populism, whose days could be numbered.