By Erika Tomatore, USCM Intern
July 28, 2008

When the Third Mayors’ Hemispheric Forum, hosted by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, convened in Miami June 19-20, among the mayors in attendance was Chacao-Caracas, Venezuela Mayor Leopoldo Lopez, who had also participated in earlier Hemispheric meetings.

Upon arriving back in Venezuela, Lopez was detained for several hours, by members of the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services, a special intelligence agency of Venezuela.

According to Lopez, there was no legal justification for the detention because he had already passed through immigration and luggage. In Lopez’s words, “The Mayors’ Hemispheric Forum had a lot of coverage in Venezuela and we were presenting the reality of [the] mismanagement of Venezuela outside of Venezuela. Basically this was a response.”

According to Lopez, the Mayors’ Hemispheric Forum is important to building relationships among mayors. Lopez remarked that he was impressed by the organization and the content of discussions, and also said, “I am interested in deepening the relationship between mayors from North and South America. Cities can be a great mechanism for bringing people together.”

At the Forum, the mayors discussed a range of issues concerning environmental sustainability and energy reform, infrastructure, digital literacy, and successful strategies for being competitive in the global economy.

At the meeting, Lopez also had the opportunity to meet with Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama to share information concerning Chacao and the challenges he faces there.

Lopez, considered a pragmatic center-leftist, has been one of a handful of mayors within Venezuela unwilling to remain submissive to the authoritarian government of Hugo Chavez. Lopez’s recent detention was one of many reactions of the Chavez government against Lopez.

Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl wrote, “In 2006, one of [Mayor Lopez’s] bodyguards was fatally shot as he sat in the passenger seat of a car normally used by the mayor.”

Four months prior to Lopez’s departure to the meeting in Miami, the Controller General of Venezuela formally requested the National Electoral Council (CNE), the electoral authority in Venezuela, to bar over 400 Venezuelans, which included Leopoldo Lopez, from contention in the forthcoming November 23, 2008 national election, in which 335 municipalities will elect mayors and governors in all 24 states.

While he continues to be banned from entering the elections, Lopez states that the banned candidates continue to fight the ban through street protests, and institutional routes, as well as international pressure.

In Lopez’s words, “We have been disqualified because we can win. The government does not want to show an alternative leadership through elections. We believe change will come about through the construction of a new majority and that’s what we do, and we have been successful through that process.”

With both a degree in Economics from Kenyon College and a degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Lopez has been a strong advocate for change and transparency within the government of Venezuela. These stands have made him increasingly popular in Chacao.

In 2004, Lopez was re-elected for his second term with 81 percent of the vote. Today, according to Data Analysis, among several other private companies that handle national and local statistics, polls show that Lopez’s positive rating within Chacao remains at 95 percent and 70 percent in the entire municipality of Caracas.

Because of his advocacy for governmental transparency and the promotion of legal equality, Chacao-Caracas has been recognized by Transparency International as the most transparent municipality in all of Venezuela.

Chacao has a population of approximately 65,000 people. Although small in size, Chacao is prosperous and is noted as having a higher level of sanitation, health care, and law-enforcement compared to other cities within the same district.

The First Mayors’ Hemispheric Forum was held in Miami and was created by Miami Mayor Diaz in 2006. The Second Mayors’ Hemispheric Forum was held in Chicago in 2007 and was hosted by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

The Mayors’ Hemispheric Forum, in Diaz’s words, “…offers another excellent opportunity for every mayor to convey his or her vision and share concrete solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the Hemisphere.”