Source: Swissinfo
Berlin, July 27 (EFE).- The NGO World Liberty Congress or ‘World Congress for Freedom’, co-founded by Venezuelan Leopoldo López, Iranian Masih Alinejad and Russian Garry Kasparov, inaugurated its European headquarters in Berlin this Monday.
The opening of the organization’s European offices is “a huge step” for the organization, López said at the presentation of the headquarters.
In his opinion, the new facilities, located in the center of the German capital, apart from giving him the opportunity to demonstrate a presence beyond his headquarters in Washington, help him to receive the solidarity of his allies and to cooperate with them.
The Venezuelan opposition expressed the hope that it will become a “symbol for the people who fight in each of our countries that freedom can be achieved, walls can be torn down, people can prevail in their hope of freedom.”
At the opening ceremony, in which Alinejad and the mayor of Berlin, the conservative Kai Wegner, were also present, López recalled that in recent years democracy and freedom “are losing ground” in the world and that currently 75% of the world’s population lives under some kind of autocratic regime.
In this context, the idea of the organization, which emerged four years ago, according to the Venezuelan opposition – who serves as secretary general – is that, just as autocrats cooperate to preserve their power, those who believe “in freedom” must cooperate.
“The fall of the (Berlin) wall is not a thing of the past, it is not a history lesson that we have to learn, it is the present for us: in Venezuela, in Iran, in Russia, in Zimbabwe, in Uganda, in Cuba, in Nicaragua,” he said regarding the choice of the German capital, which already hosted the first ‘Freedom Week’ organized by the WLC in 2025.
“It is the most important, most symbolic image that those who fight for freedom have today,” he emphasized and added that “the people of Venezuela want to tear down the wall of the dictatorship.”
Iranian activist Alinejad, for her part, strongly condemned the multiple abuse against LGTBI Pride Day in Berlin last Saturday, which the authorities are investigating as a probable Islamist attack and urged not to walk around with ambages when naming the problem.
In this context, she accused the German Government of legitimizing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, by normalizing diplomatic relations with them, and of being too soft with Islamic centers financed by Iran, in both cases autocratic regimes sponsors, according to her, of terrorist acts such as Saturday’s.
“Dictators are not only a threat to us, people who come from authoritarian regimes, but they are the greatest threats to democracy,” he warned.
