Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker.

My guest today has been a pivotal figure in the recent history of his troubled country, Venezuela.

Leopoldo Lopez comes from a well-to-do Caracas family.

He enjoyed a privileged upbringing, a U.S. college education, and established a name for himself as an outspoken mayor of one of Caracas's

prosperous districts. His determination to challenge the revolutionary socialist government of Hugo Chavez

saw him found a political party, popular will. And after Chavez's death, he advocated direct action, including massive street protests,

in an effort to topple the regime. After violent clashes in 2014, he was arrested and imprisoned.

And ever since, he's been a target for the government of President Nicolas Maduro. In early 2019,

Lopez's protégé in popular will, Juan Guido,

president of the National Assembly, declared himself to be president. And since then,

the opposition has tried all manner of means to topple Maduro. Street protests, an aborted

insurrection, a half-baked coup attempt led by American

mercenaries. But nothing has worked. And last month, Lopez fled from his sanctuary in the

Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas and flew into exile in Madrid. Is that a sign that

he has lost faith in the ability of the opposition to prevail

in the fight for Venezuela's future? Well, Leopoldo Lopez joins me now from Madrid. Why did you decide to

flee your country? Well, it was a very difficult decision, Stephen. I spent four years in a

military prison, then I spent a year and a half in house arrest, and then I spent another year

and a half in the Spanish embassy while I was under asylum. I never wanted to leave Venezuela.

I actually presented myself in 2014 when a process

against me was presented by the dictatorship. And I decided it was my own decision to go to jail

instead of going into exile. So for the past seven years, I've been without liberty, without freedom, but the

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