leopoldo lopez, in madrid, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. welcome to hardtalk. thank you for the opportunity. welcome to hardtalk. it s great to have you on the show. back in 2019, your big idea as a key leader of the venezuelan opposition was to undermine socialist president nicolas maduro by creating an alternative president and an alternative government. would you now acknowledge that big idea has failed? well, certainly we were not able to remove the dictatorship. and if we are measured by that standard, certainly we didn t get to the results we expected. but it s also true for any other alternative that we ve tried for over 20 years. we ve tried voting. we won the national assembly with two thirds of the vote, and the dictatorship also dismantled the possibility of the national assembly to exercise its constitutional powers. we ve tried by protesting. we ve protested with hundreds of thousands of people throughout the years, and we ve also failed to remove the
now on bbc news it s hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. venezuela s authoritarian leader, nicolas maduro, has, for the moment, outmanoeuvred those forces inside and outside the country intent on his removal. last month, the opposition gave up on their own alternative president and indicated a willingness to negotiate with maduro. in the us, in latin america and in europe, they seem ready to engage with the caracas regime, not least because oil supplies are at a premium. my guest is leopoldo lopez, long time venezuelan opposition leader and former political prisoner, now in exile in spain. is it time for him to acknowledge failure? leopoldo lopez in madrid, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. thank you for the opportunity. it s great to have you on the show. back in 2019, your big idea as a key leader of the venezuelan opposition was to undermine socialist president nicolas maduro by creating an alternative president and an alternative
supplies are at a premium. my guest is leopoldo lopez, long time venezuelan opposition leader and former political prisoner, now in exile in spain. is it time for him to acknowledge failure? leopoldo lopez, in madrid, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. thank you for the opportunity. it s great to have you on the show. back in 2019, your big idea as a key leader of the venezuelan opposition was to undermine socialist president nicolas maduro by creating an alternative president and an alternative government. would you now acknowledge that big idea has failed? well, certainly we were not able to remove the dictatorship. and if we are measured by that standard, certainly we didn t get to the results we expected. but it s also true for any other alternative that we ve tried for over 20 years. we ve tried voting. we won the national assembly with two thirds of the vote, and the dictatorship also dismantled the possibility of the national assembly to exercise its constitutio
on the streets of lima, members of the security forces confronted crowds demanding the resignation of president dina boluarte. you re watching bbc news. now, it s time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. venezuela s authoritarian leader, nicolas maduro, has, for the moment, outmanoeuvred those forces inside and outside the country, intent on his removal. last month, the opposition gave up on their own alternative president and indicated a willingness to negotiate with maduro. in the us, in latin america and in europe, they seem ready to engage with the caracas regime, not least because oil supplies are at a premium. my guest is leopoldo lopez, long time venezuelan opposition leader and former political prisoner, now in exile in spain. is it time for him to acknowledge failure? leopoldo lopez in madrid, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. thank you for the opportunity. it s great to have you on the show. back in 2019, your big idea as a key leader of t
may 11th is the date that marks the end of the crisis officially. the crisis status that we have been in since january 2020. one thing that is not ending, though, the spending. president biden showing no signs of slowing down when it comes to hand-outs. his student loan relief measure looking more expensive than initially thought. new analysis that shows biden s newly proposed income driven repayment plan will cost you taxpayers, get this, more than $360 billion in the next decade. that s on top of the almost $4 hundred 70 billion in direct loan forgiveness. it all makes for a possible escalation in the battle between the white house and republican lawmakers who say the spending must stop. we finally reached that point in time where enough is enough. 18 trillion in debt when i got here. a little over four years ago. now 31 trillion. it has gotten to a point where if you don t start exercising a little bit of discipline like everyone else does in this country, all other enti