Peace offering from Maduro comes amid plans to rewrite Venezuela's constitution

The transfer of Venezuela's most prominent political prisoner from a military stockade to house arrest was widely viewed as a peace offering by President Nicolas Maduro to opponents who have led months of street protests against his beleaguered government.In a speech Saturday, the day opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was sent home after three years behind bars, Maduro said: "God willing, this decision will be understood" as a gesture of peace and reconciliation. But amid a government crackdown on democratic freedoms, including a plan to write a new constitution that could give the president more power, opposition leaders plan to press forward with more protests. "Just because Leopoldo Lopez is free doesn't mean people will go back to their houses and rest," said Alfredo Romero, director of Foro Penal, a legal aid group that represents political prisoners.  More…