Maduro wants to strip me of my Venezuelan citizenship to punish dissent | Opinion

On Oct. 25, 2025, I woke to news that Nicolás Maduro’s regime had requested Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice to strip me of my nationality.

This is not new; the regime has weaponized identity for years. Tens of thousands have had passports canceled, hundreds of thousands cannot obtain or renew them due to deliberate sabotage, and millions have been forced into exile, desperately seeking opportunities unavailable at home.

At the same time, the Maduro regime has been issuing thousands of Venezuelan passports to members of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations since 2009, as documented by U.S. intelligence and congressional reports.

This move against me, and now others are being threatened, is unprecedented in one way: in our republican history, no Venezuelan by birth has faced such a public attack on their citizenship. But it stems from familiar desperation.

After a decade of economic collapse, institutional decay and global isolation, Maduro’s regime resorts to systemic retribution. The trigger? My public statements echoing what nine out of ten Venezuelans believe: Maduro heads a criminal organization — the Cartel de los Soles — that has hijacked the Venezuelan state.

The only way to confirm the sovereign will of the people, as expressed in the stolen 2024 elections, is through decisive action — including military measures to dismantle this network and enforce a legitimate democratic transition led by President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia, backed by María Corina Machado and millions of citizens.

The Trump administration has rightly defined this regime as a criminal structure threatening not just Venezuela but the entire hemisphere.

The regime’s goal is clear: to make citizenship a revocable privilege, not a right. Targeting me sends a message to all Venezuelans: speak out and lose your place in your country.

I was born Venezuelan. That identity, rooted in family, history and shared struggle, cannot be erased. Article 35 of our Constitution confirms this: nationality by birth is irrevocable. This act is illegal, a desperate ploy for control.

My story — arrested in 2014 for peaceful protests, over six years in prison and house arrest, exiled in 2020 — reflects a broader assault. The UNHCR reports 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s history.

Yet in exile, we carry Venezuela in our work, communities and hope for return. To democracies worldwide: this is authoritarian overreach, not a personal dispute. When citizenship hinges on loyalty, pluralism dies.

To Venezuelans everywhere: no decree can sever our bond. We are united by a vision of a free Venezuela. My nationality is Venezuelan. Always has been. Always will be.

Leopoldo López is a Venezuelan opposition leader, founder of the Voluntad Popular party, co-founder of the World Liberty Congress, and a voice for democratic restoration, living in exile.

This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 6:00 AM.