Antonio Ledezma is a Venezuelan opposition leader and former prisoner of conscience. In 1999, Ledezma founded the Fearless People’s Alliance, a pro-democracy party that went on to win 165 seats in the parliamentary elections of 2000. During his term as mayor of Caracas in 2015, Ledezma was physically removed from his office and arbitrarily arrested. International human rights groups immediately condemned the arrest as a politically motivated attack by Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorial regime to dismantle democracy in Venezuela. After Ledezma spent two years under house arrest and more than 1,000 days as a prisoner of conscience, he made a cross-border escape to Colombia in November of 2017. Now living in Spain, Ledezma continues to advocate in exile for Venezuelan democracy. Ledezma has also served as governor of Caracas and has received numerous awards for his activism, including the 2017 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
