Good afternoon.
Before we begin this afternoon, I just have a note to committee members. Because we've managed to get our guests here for the start of the committee, we are going to postpone the review of our study. I ask you to prepare any changes, suggestions, or edits, and have them ready for the next meeting. That would be great.
Before we begin, I want to explain that we're undertaking the third meeting of the subcommittee on the deteriorating situation in Venezuela.
We recently heard about the Venezuelan government's attempts to circumvent the national assembly, to undermine judicial independence, and to silence dissent by imprisoning government critics. The prolonged protests over the past month and the extreme violence and intimidation that have met protestors are especially troubling, particularly the 40 Venezuelans who have died during these protests, including minors.
The subcommittee has also heard that rampant corruption has led to the bankrupting of a resource-rich country, precipitating an acute economic, social, and humanitarian crisis that has affected the lives of over 30 million Venezuelans. In September 2015, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López was sentenced to almost 14 years on politically motivated charges, and has been held in a military prison in solitary confinement for almost 700 of his 1,100 days of detention so far.
In this context, I would like to welcome here today Lilian Tintori, Venezuelan democracy activist and the wife of imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo López; Antonieta Mendoza de López, Mr. López's mother; Jared Genser, Mr. López's international counsel; and, of course, Irwin Cotler, an honoured member of this subcommittee in many years past and a frequent visitor here.
With that, Ms. Tintori, I would like to welcome you to make your remarks, and then we'll move to questions from members of the committee.
Thank you very much.