page_title: 2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt
section_title: Release of López and call for uprising
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt / Events / Release of López and call for uprising
caption_attribution_description: English: Leopoldo López beside a pro-Guaidó soldier on 30 April 2019.
context_page_description: On 30 April, during the Venezuelan presidential crisis, a group of several dozen military personnel and civilians joined Juan Guaidó in his call for an uprising against Nicolás Maduro as part of what he labeled "Operation Freedom". Reuters reported an "uneasy peace" by the afternoon of 30 April. During the uprising attempt, opposition leader Leopoldo López was freed from house arrest after being imprisoned for five years. The head of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, Manuel Cristopher Figuera denounced the Maduro government and was dismissed from his position before going into hiding. At least 25 military men who opposed Maduro sought asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Caracas.
  Maduro expelled 54 members from the military and the head of intelligence who publicly backed Guaidó. Regional and international media concluded that the uprising had failed, with CNN reporting that it "faltered, having apparently failed to gain the support of senior members of the Venezuelan military". Guaidó also acknowledged he had received insufficient military support and stated that protests would be held every day until Maduro stepped down from power.
context_section_description: At 2:00 am VET, lieutenant colonel Illich Sánchez of the Bolivarian National Guard, gathered his troops, stating "When I gathered my troops ... and told them we were going to liberate Venezuela they broke down in tears". Sánchez was the commander of 500 troops throughout Caracas who were tasked with protecting government building such as Miraflores Palace, and the Palacio Federal Legislativo. Shortly after, Sánchez's troops freed opposition leader Leopoldo López—Guaidó's mentor and Venezuela's "most prominent opposition activist" according to the Associated Press—who had been under house arrest since 2014.
  At approximately 5:00 am, large vehicles accompanied by members of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela blocked portions of the Francisco Fajardo Highway. At 5:46 am VET, Guaidó live-streamed a video on Periscope of himself beside López, with the two flanked by members of the Venezuelan armed forces from the Altamira Overpass, near La Carlota Air Force Base in Caracas. Guaidó titled the initiative "Operation Freedom", and stated: "People of Venezuela, it is necessary that we go out together to the street, to support the democratic forces and to recover our freedom. Organized and together, mobilize the main military units. People of Caracas, all to La Carlota".
  López, his wife Lilian Tintori and their daughter would later enter the Chilean embassy in Caracas, and move again to the Spanish embassy for protection.
  After Guaidó's announcement, NetBlocks reported that multiple social media and news websites were censored by the state-run CANTV internet provider. The internet outage was similar to the regular disruptions that have occurred in other important political conflicts in 2019. The signal of BBC World News and CNN would also be taken off the air, and the local radio station Radio Caracas Radio was broken into and shut down by the telecommunications authority.
caption: Leopoldo López beside lieutenant colonel Illich Sánchez following his release
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