A Venezuelan opposition lawmaker stripped down to his briefs during a debate in front of the country’s National Assembly on Tuesday.


Gilber Caro, a member of the hardline opposition party Popular Will, stood in front of his colleagues to call for unity and the support of Juan Requesens, 29, an opposition leader who was accused and jailed for allegedly having a role in an assassination attempt on President Nicolas Maduro on August 4 during a military celebration.

He said: "It’s the moment. I call for unity in this institution so that we can defend it the way Requesens was out in the street defending the institution and Venezuela’s liberty."


Moments later, Caro, 43, removed his sports coat as he asked everyone, "Where does a man’s dignity rest?"

He then tore his dress shirt off and walked to the other side of the chamber where he paused momentarily to take off his pants. He then continued his speech, blaming the president’s administration of stripping its citizens basic rights to food and medicine.


He himself spent 17 months imprisoned after Maduro accused him of carrying out terror attacks in 2016 before he regained his freedom in June.


He continued: "A man’s dignity and love is not carried inside what I just finished removing. The dignity is in the heart and we carry Venezuela in the heart, [too]."


In spite of Caro’s emotional plea, a court in Caracas still kept Requesens detained along with two other high-ranking military officials, whose exact roles in the alleged assassination plot weren’t revealed.