CARACAS, Venezuela — Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro poured into the streets Friday to condemn the surprise arrest of Caracas’ mayor for allegedly participating in a U.S.-backed plot to overthrow his government.
An armed commando unit dressed in camouflage raided Mayor Antonio Ledezma’s office Thursday and hauled him away amid protests by his staff. The detention, recorded by security cameras, set off a wave of spontaneous demonstrations, with Venezuelans in middle-class enclaves loyal to the opposition banging pots and pans and blaring car horns.
Ledezma, 59, was expected to appear in court, but it wasn’t clear when or on what charges.
The arrest of the mayor, one of Maduro’s fiercest critics, comes as the government struggles to avert a crisis years in the making but made worse by a recent tumble in oil prices. The president’s approval rating was hovering around 22 percent in January, the lowest in 16 years of socialist rule, as Venezuelans are forced to cope with widespread shortages, runaway inflation and a plunge in the currency that shows little sign of abating.