this is bbc news, the headlines: mr biden's team is pressing on with preparations for his time in office. on monday, he is expected to announce members of a coronavirus task force, led by scientists and public health officials. he is also preparing to return the us to the paris agreement on combating climate change. the former american president, george w bush, has congratulated joe biden — calling the election "fundamentally fair". but donald trump is still refusing to concede — he continues to assert that the election has been "stolen" without supplying evidence. bell tolls. queen elizabeth has led remembrance sunday commemorations — as people around the uk paid their respects to the fallen largely from home, because of coronavirus restrictions. at the cenotaph on whitehall in london — the queen was joined by other members of the royal family and political leaders. now on bbc news, hardtalk.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the socialist government of venezuela presides over an economy in meltdown and a population desperate for change. but still, the country's opposition has failed to build a movement capable of bringing down president nicolas maduro. why? my my guest is the founder of the popular will opposition party. leopoldo lopez, last month he escaped from venezuela and found refuge in spain. is that the action of man whose lost faith in the opposition's ability to win their struggle?

leopoldo lopez, welcome to hard to talk. —— hardtalk. you are talking to me from madrid. why did you decide to flee your country? it was a very difficult decision, stephen. i spent four years in a military prison and then i i spent 1.5 yea rs prison and then i i spent 1.5 years in house arrest and another 1.5 years years in house arrest and another1.5 years in years in house arrest and another 1.5 years 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 andi presented by the dictatorship and i decided, it was my own

decision to go to jail instead of going into exile. for the past seven years, i have been without liberty or freedom but the circumstances at the moment led me to take the decision which i did not want to take for many years, to go out and work something that many venezuelans have work something that many venezuela ns have been work something that many venezuelans have been forced to do. notjust those involved in politics but 5.5 million venezuelans have politics but 5.5 million venezuela ns have been politics but 5.5 million venezuelans have been forced to leave venezuela. i well remember in 2017, being with your mother and shouting a sort of semi— interview with you over the present fence and you talk to me then about your determination to fight for a democracy and fair elections in venezuela. the fact that you have chosen to flee and you are now in spain suggests to me

that you feel a sense of failure and defeat? well that's not the way i see it. mandela once said we who fight for freedom don't choose the terrain in which we fight. the terrain in which we fight. the terrain in which we fight is chosen by the oppressor, not by the oppressed. so the circumstances, as i said before, have changed and one of the main elements in order to bring about change in venezuela is to strengthen our international coalition with the venezuelan people in order to bring about change was up for many years, stephen, many yea rs, for many years, stephen, many years, almost 17 years, the world and many people in venezuela did not talk about the case of our country as a cruel dictatorship. many people saw venezuela as a democracy, asa saw venezuela as a democracy, as a failing democracy, as a different democracy, but it was not until 2014 when it was

clear to us and to the world that venezuela was no longer a democracy, so it's not easy, it is not easy to bring about change in north korea, it is not easy to bring about change in cuba, it is not easy to bring about change in nicaragua and not easy to bring about change in venezuela and the reason is it is a dictatorship, a cruel dictatorship that has been identified as being responsible for crimes against humanity either un and many other reasons that make venezuela a strong dictatorship against the people of venezuela. of course, nicolas maduro and his regime deny many of the allegations that you lay at his door but you say there is no doubt from independent reporting, from a host of different human rights and other groups, that there is a repressive regime in caracas. you talk about struggle not been easy. is it not easy to

recognise that new and other people in the opposition have made some major strategic mistakes? of course, i mean, we're human, stephen, and we are fighting a dictatorship and of course we have made important decisions that have led us closer to freedom and other decisions have not been accurate decisions at the moment. so it has been a difficult process. a process in which we have been on top at times, close to freedom at times, close to freedom at times, and it has been a process in which we have been in the bottom without hope at times. and all, all definitions of freedom, the president of paraguay once said, of uruguay, once said, freedom is not about being happy, it is about having

the capacity of falling and stepping back up to the fight for freedom stepping back up to the fight forfreedom and stepping back up to the fight for freedom and i stepping back up to the fight forfreedom and i believe stepping back up to the fight for freedom and i believe that. the problem in venezuela, let me be clear about this, it is not the opposition, it is not the venezuelan people, the problem in venezuela are not the democratic parties, the problem in venezuela is a cruel and criminal dictatorship that kills people, that murders, that imprisons and that it has millions of people in a situation of hunger. so lepers may be clear about that. the tragedy of venezuela rush let's be clear about that. —— it has a clear face and be clear about that. —— it has a clearface and a name, nicolas maduro who is responsible for the unfortunate fate of millions of venezuelans. as you know, on this show, we try to hold many to account. a inch —— interviewed hugo chavez and u nfortu nately interviewed hugo chavez and unfortunately at the moment i am not able to interview nicolas maduro but it is also myjob to hold you to account for the things you are responsible for. you have

a lwa ys responsible for. you have always inside venezuela been seen as a always inside venezuela been seen as a opposition leader who advocates confrontation, resistance, direct action. we saw that back in 2014 when you got hundreds of thousands of venezuelans on the street, that ultimately failed. we saw you in 2019 when your protegejuan guaido declared himself as defector president, of the national assembly, something which you had advocated and something which you discussed, perhaps through your wife as well, with the trump administration in washington. was that decision, to make guaido the opposition president of venezuela, a mistake? well, it is not something that i decided, stephen. it was a decision made with the basis of oui’ decision made with the basis of our constitution and the reason why guaido is recognised not just by the trump administration and the us government but by almost 60 countries in the world as the

interim president is because oui’ interim president is because our constitution clearly states that if there is no legitimate president, the date in which they knew a presidential term sta rts they knew a presidential term starts then the president of the national assembly assumes as the interim president until there are presidential elections and that's what happened in venezuela. what happened in venezuela. what happened in venezuela is not something that i guaido or the trump administration imposed, no, it is what the constitution mandates needs to happen at that moment and we are very grateful for the 60 countries in the world, the free world, europe, the region, recognises guaido as the legitimate president in order to ring about free and fair elections to our country and that's our fight, that's what we want, what we are calling for, what we wa nt what we are calling for, what we want is for the people of venezuela to decide who runs a country and who can be able to build the future of venezuelan people. yeah, but if you and guaido had simply stuck with

the advocacy of free and fair elections, i would understand your point but you are fiercely went much, much further, —— obviously. starting with april 30, 2019, you basically try to launch an insurrection within develops whale and security forces. you and widodo seemed very confident —— guaido. you felt confident you would get the forces on your side and you fail, you got it wrong. well, but we tried and we took a step forward. with respect, with respect, you told me you are committed to democracy and elections... yes, yes. and what you tried to do was engineer an internal coup d'etat? no, what we are proposing that morning for that date was there was a protest with the people, the military and the police. i

lived for four years in a military prison so i have had many that make a lot of contact with them. many of them are was possible for committing crimes and all is that make a lot of them want change. it was the sentiment of many in the military that want to bring about change in venezuela and what we were proposing was precisely to bring about a transition government with part of the structure that was in the regime and within nine months have a presidential election and the situation in venezuela today, stephen, is a situation where we are facing a dictator and you cannot think about a dictator with the rules and the dynamics of a democracy. it is not a democracy, in any way. venezuela is a dictatorship and we need to do what it takes in order to bring down the dictator nicolas maduro who has been signalled by the un, not

by me, not by the venezuelan people, not either political parties but by the un is responsible for committing crimes against humanity. responsible for committing crimes against humanitylj responsible for committing crimes against humanity. i will crosstalk. the un has identified murders between 2014 and 2019 against people that have resented themselves, or have resented themselves, or have positions against the dictatorship. crosstalk that is what we are facing. in the course of this interview, i promise you we will face more of what the venezuelan people are facing but i want to also focus on yourjudgement because not only did you get it wrong when you thought the military command would side with you in april 2019, you and juan guaido and others in the leadership then got it even more spectacularly wrong later in the year when you sent emissaries to miami to speak

with a highly dubious former member of us special forces who you appeared to be prepared to pay tens and tens of millions of dollars to organise some sort of half baked intervention from overseas to kidnap nicolas maduro. too many people inside your country, that's simply suggested you are totally without credibility. why did you do it? well, as has been said many times since that happened, that episode was something that was made and put together either dictatorship and it has also been presented with proof —— by the dictatorship —— proof that the massacre that happened that morning was something that was built by the dictatorship so it is not true, it is not true that we were involved in that. that can't be right because two people who were involved in the contacts people who were involved in the co nta cts in people who were involved in the contacts in miami were sirjhov

0'gara and —— sergio vergara who were part of the crisis strategy commission that included you? no, that's not true i had no information of that and after president guaido knew about this, the information and the conversations with that group went to stalemate and they were com pletely went to stalemate and they were completely blocked and it was very clear that the position of president guaido was not closed to that position and those two persons that were collaborated we re persons that were collaborated were no longer with the team of president guaido. he had to fire them but it was deeply embarrassing, wasn't it? and that allowed nicolas maduro to tell the owners well and people that you, why and others were in the pocket of the americans? asi in the pocket of the americans? as i said before, stephen, had absolutely nothing to do with

that case, with that episode and president guaido make clear his position about that. and we believe that change needs to happen in venezuela and that's not the way that we believe change will happen in venezuela. let's talk about the international context, you talked about the importance of the support you have received in the last year and two years from the united states, latin american countries and from the european union as well, but in the end, what matters most, i guess, is the support you got from the trump administration. do you believe, in retrospect and certainly given what is happening in washington now with the likelihood as we speak ofa with the likelihood as we speak of a biden presidency starting injanuary of a biden presidency starting in january 2021, do of a biden presidency starting injanuary 2021, do you think you invested too much faith in donald trump and got too close to him? well, we have faith in the international community that supported us, and of course the trump administration

supported the process to bring about change and venezuela and we are grateful for that. but i wa nt to we are grateful for that. but i want to be very clear about the position of the united states with the case of venezuela. i believe that this may be the one issue that has bipartisan support. when guaido was invited to the state of the union in february of this year, he got a standing ovation from republicans and also from democrats. a standing ovation. and this is a bipartisan issue that we believe, no matter what happens with the us election, because that is a decision not of the venezuelan people but of the american people, we will have the support to bring about change, freedom and democracy and our country, because this is not about ideology, this is not about left or right, this is not about republicans or democrats, this is not about the socialist party or the popular party in spain, no, this is about freedom and democracy. this is about

millions of people being pressed by a tyrant, a cruel and murderous tyrant, that continues to make the situation very difficult and very sad for the venezuelan people, forcing millions of people to fully our country so this is about freedom, and i know that many people that watch your programme andi people that watch your programme and i would like to tell them that when they think about venezuela, when they read about venezuela, when they read about venezuela, when they read about venezuela, when they want to understand more about what is happening in our country, this is about the essence of freedom at. this is about the essence of having the venezuelan people being able to make their choice about what their future should be about. now, listen, you have told me many times about the suffering of the venezuelan people and i do not underestimate it for one second. i am just looking at statistics here. the economist magazine reckoned that gdp will contract magazine reckoned that gdp will co ntra ct by magazine reckoned that gdp will contract by 30% in venezuela in

2020, virtually 80% of the population are living in extreme poverty and 30% of children underfive extreme poverty and 30% of children under five are suffering chronic malnutrition. that is the reality of venezuela today, and yet you, it seems, support the ever tougher us economic and financial sanctions on your country, which have just financial sanctions on your country, which havejust been ramped up even more with an end of the diesel for oil swaps which was helping the venezuelans get diesel into their country, something which humanitarian groups in venezuela say is going to make the situation for the ordinary people even worse. why are you supporting this? well, i'd appreciate that question, stephen, because many people would like to believe that the crisis in venezuela, the humanitarian crisis and venezuela as a consequence of the sanctions that have been imposed in venezuela, and that is simply not true. that is simply not true and we can show

how the crisis in venezuela was developing in a very deteriorating way for many yea rs before, deteriorating way for many years before, in 2018, sanctions were imposed. so, fa ct sanctions were imposed. so, fact number 1: the situation and venezuela is not due to a consequence of the sanctions. and secondly, what we have been promoting, all of the humanitarian effort, which we believe needs to happen in venezuela today, yesterday, and of course we are working on that and it needs to happen through the international administrations and guaido administrations and guaido administration has been working with international organisations in order to bring about support for the humanitarian crisis. but they also want to be very clear about something. be quick, because we are running out of time. in order to have the

solution to the crisis, to the humanitarian suffering of millions of people in venezuela, there needs to be regime change. there is absolutely no way we can alleviate the suffering of the venezuelan people with majuro and power. let me stop you, let me stop you there —— maduro and power. you say nothing but regime change. there are other opposition figures that think that your confrontation approach has failed and that there has to be a new strategy. for example, there are going to be national assembly elections on december six. many opposition parties including yours are boycotting them but there are some opposition leaders that have decided that boycotting is simply not the right strategy. henry falcon, chairman of the ap party says the ballot is the only

instrument to achieve democratic change, the rest is just fantasy, and look at belarus. you take part in elections even if the government brings those elections, the public will see what is happening and they will rally to the opposition. so why are you continuing your boycott? let me start by saying, we have always believed in voting. i can tell you a personal commitment to voting. in 2015, there was a schedule for a parliamentary election. i was in prison, in the military prison that you visited, and i went into a hunger strike. 28 days of hunger strike with other political prisoners, fellow political prisoners, and hundreds of people thatjoined us hundreds of people thatjoined us into a hunger strike in order to have the date for the election that was to take place in december of that year. and

finally, they presented and published the date for that election. and we went to the election, and we won the election. we won two—thirds of the national assembly with a situation that was adverse to us situation that was adverse to us and we won two—thirds of the national assembly and what nicolas maduro did, the dictator did, it was he took away all of the capacity, the constitutional attributions that the national assembly has and basically put the assembly only as the legitimate symbol of what the people wanted, but without any capacity of legislating and having an impact with the executive, so we have been there, we have won those elections and what we said, this is a very important, we wa nt said, this is a very important, we want to vote, we want elections. we are about elections, we want elections, we wa nt elections, we want elections, we want presidential elections because that's the only way in

which change can come about and venezuela, so we are not going to participate in a fraud. all right, on, hang on... i'm talking about all the little parties, and i'm talking about most of the venezuelan people. 65% of the venezuelan people are saying that they are no conditions to go for the elections and the terms that the regime wants. 85% of the opposition people don't want to go to the selection because there are no conditions. all right, one must question and we will have to be brief. you are in madrid, nicolas maduro is still in the presidential palace. juan guaido's popularity rating inside the country according to data analysis inside venezuela is 2596. analysis inside venezuela is 25%. on all of those measures, your capacity to engineer change is now lower than it has ever been before. have you lost hope? no, i've never lost hope, stephen. and as i said before,

we fall down and we rise up again, because this is about what we believe. i went to jail, i've spent four years in prison. many people have gone through very difficult suffering and our most important commitment is with hope. and they will not beat us because we will not surrender andi because we will not surrender and i can assure you that. and thatis and i can assure you that. and that is not me saying this, there are millions of people who are committed to this fight until the end, and who are committed to this fight untilthe end, and i who are committed to this fight until the end, and i ask for the international community, the international community, the people of other countries, governments, parliaments, ngos, media, to understand that the crisis and venezuela needs your help as well. we need the support of every single individual and the planet earth that believes in freedom, in democracy, and the idea of all rights for all the people. we are out of time, but i do thank you very much forjoining me on hardtalk, thanks a lot. thank you, thank you stephen.

hello there. southerly winds are going to bring us a mild start to the week but they are also bringing extensive cloud, a little bit of damp weather and we've seen mist and fog patches as well, so rather murky conditions for a time, too. now, the satellite picture shows the area of cloud responsible for the drizzle and some fog lurking underneath that. got pressure to the south—west and then a more substantial area of cloud. now, that's going to be coming in towards the middle part of the week so we are going to see some rain over the next few days as well.

now, for the early risers, i think it's probably going to be a damp start to the day around the east coast of scotland, some eastern areas of england as well with mist and fog patches dotted around across scotland, england and wales, so murky conditions too. then we will start to see further bits and pieces of rain working into northern ireland and wales and south—west england, and that is all tied in with this area of low pressure that's going to be pushing north—eastwards as we go through the course of monday. so monday, a cloudy start to the day. as i say, pretty murky across scotland, much of england and wales, with some bursts of rain for northern ireland, wales, western areas of england and through the day, this rain will gradually push its way northwards and eastwards. it will very gradually brighten up across western areas but otherwise, scotland and most of england staying pretty cloudy, really. despite that, it'll be mild — temperatures reaching a high of up to 16 degrees celsius in the south—east of england. now, through tuesday, the low pressure is still on the charts and we've still got a lot of cloud in the forecast, still with some bursts of rain slowly pushing north and eastwards. but the low pressure on tuesday is going to weaken

significantly, and so the cloud will begin to break up and we should start to see some brighter weather slowly pushing in from the west, so a greater chance of seeing at least a little bit of sunshine, and it's still mild — average temperature for this time of year is about 11 in london, so 15 degrees is still four above normal. wednesday sees a more substantial area of rain move in off the atlantic and this one will be accompanied by some strengthening winds with gale force gusts working in across western areas. so heavy rain for northern ireland, heavy rain also developing through the day for west scotland, southern wales and the moors of south—west england. a very squally band of rain, too. notice it's dry for much of the day over eastern areas of england — it'll probably have brighter spells as well — but this band of squally rain will push its way eastwards as we go through wednesday night to reach all areas.

this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. joe biden's team begin full—scale preparations for his time in office, making the coronavirus pandemic its priority. the european union welcomes his election expressing hope mr biden will quickly rejoin the paris climate change accord and improve foreign relations. azerbaijan's president tells the bbc he sees no end to the fighting in nagorno—karabakh. frankly speaking, with this prime minister of armenia, i don't think that there is any possibility for peace. florida braces itself for storm eta which has brought