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López seeing his family again in Madrid
Photo: - / AFP
The opposition politician Leopoldo López managed to escape from his home country after leaving the Spanish embassy in Caracas.
Spain's Foreign Ministry said that he arrived in Madrid on Sunday and was able to meet his family.
López had spent almost a year and a half in the Spanish mission, before he was imprisoned in Venezuela.
On Saturday it became known that López had left the country under initially unexplained circumstances.
Spain's foreign ministry had merely announced that López had left the embassy residence voluntarily and after a personal decision.
The ministry condemned the arrests of employees of the Spanish embassy in Caracas and searches of the homes of embassy staff.
López wants to fulfill tasks from the new "combat area"
López announced on Twitter that he would continue to perform his duties as commissioner in the government of the self-appointed interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, from the new "battlefield".
In the coming days there will be details about which "actions for the freedom of our people" are planned.
López posted a photo of the reunion with his family on Instagram.
Leopoldo López is the founder of the right-wing Voluntad Popular party and, until his imprisonment, was considered one of the most influential critics of Venezuela's head of state Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez, who died of cancer in 2013.
The socialist government described the economist and graduate of the US elite University Harvard as a representative of the extreme right and a coupist.
Protection first in Chile, then in Spain's embassy
López had been in prison since 2014.
At that time, more than 40 people were killed in protests against the government.
A court sentenced López to almost 14 years in prison for inciting violence.
He was later released and under house arrest.
Numerous governments and human rights organizations saw a political prisoner in López.
From house arrest, López became a kind of mentor to opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
When Guaidó's revolt against Maduro failed, López first sought protection in the Chilean and then in the Spanish embassy.
Shortly before, a Venezuelan court had issued another arrest warrant against López.
The Spanish government refused to extradite López.
At the beginning of October, Roberto Marrero, Guaidó's office manager, had already left the South American crisis state Venezuela for Mexico.
According to Spanish media reports, he was accompanied by a Mexican diplomat.
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fek / AFP / Reuters / dpa