Venezuelan intelligence police arrested Antonio Ledezma, the opposition mayor of Caracas and an outspoken critic of President Nicolas Maduro and his handling of the economy, on Thursday.
In a televised statement, Maduro said Ledezma was detained on the public prosecutor's orders for instigating a coup. "Enough already of vampires conspiring against the peace," he said. "There are no untouchables in this country." Maduro also claimed that the United States is attempting to destabilize his government, allegations the U.S. State Department called "baseless and false."
The mayor's detainment came one day after the anniversary of another opposition leader's arrest, Bloomberg reports, and Congressman Richard Blanco of Ledezma's Alianza Bravo Pueblo said that officers shot into the air and hit Ledezma before taking him without a warrant. The country is plagued by economic problems and shortages of basic necessities, and "this is part of the government's brutal crackdown to neutralize the opposition ahead of elections," Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
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