Daughter of jailed Caracas mayor: ‘He’s trying to stay strong’

The last time Antonieta Ledezma, 23, saw her father was in early January when she left Venezuela bound for New York. At the time, her teary-eyed dad embraced her and asked, “When will I see you again? Promise me you will take care of yourself,” she wrote in an open letter published earlier this week.

Ledezma says she never imagined that in just a few weeks seeing her father again would become a matter of not “when” but “if.”

“He was unjustly imprisoned and has effectively been kidnapped by this government,” said Ledezma, who was joined by a few dozen protesters Monday night in New York’s Times Square.

“The world needs to know what my country and what my family is going through,” she said.

“To kidnap the mayor of Venezuela’s capital, no less, is unprecedented, and it will have consequences,” said Arria.

In the meantime, Ledezma remains hopeful that she will once again be able to embrace her father as a free man.

“Hope is the last thing you lose. I know my dad will be free. His cause is now my cause.”

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