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Maduro arrests Caracas mayor as part of crackdown

Dropping oil prices brought turmoil to Venezuelan society

The Columbian
Published: February 21, 2015, 12:00am

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.

Maduro has taken to the airwaves to accuse his opponents of conspiring with the United States to sabotage the oil-dependent economy, sow chaos and carry out a coup.

He’s also seized control of a major retail chain, jailed several executives and handed more power to the military to control protests and smoke out saboteurs.

On Thursday night, he went on national TV to denounce the “vampire” Ledezma, pointing to a public letter he wrote with two other hardliners calling for a transitional government as evidence that a putsch is underway.

He also accused U.S. Embassy officials of calling the wives of army generals to inform them that their American visas had been revoked in an effort to peel away his military support. The U.S. expanded a travel ban this month on Venezuelan officials accused of human rights abuses and corruption.

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