Venezuela’s Opposition Leaders Dragged From Homes Armed officers take Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma a day after President Nicolás Maduro promises to jail rivals By Anatoly Kurmanaev and José de Córdoba
https://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-opposition-leaders-taken-from-homes-1501572477
CARACAS, Venezuela—Dozens of intelligence officers dragged out two opposition leaders from homes in the middle of the night, a day after President Nicolás Maduro vowed to jail opponents after winning a disputed vote.
Videos posted by family members showed officers armed with automatic weapons taking Leopoldo Lopez, the country’s most popular politician, and Antonio Ledezma, the elected mayor of Caracas, and shoving them into patrol cars. Mr. Lopez and Mr. Ledezma’s political parties said they don’t know where the politicians were taken.
In a speech Monday morning, Mr. Maduro said he would jail opposition politicians who have accused him of electoral fraud. The government claims to have received more than eight million votes in Sunday’s uncontested election for a special assembly that will have absolute powers.
The opposition accused the president of fraud, saying the turnout was below three million.
“Some will end up in a jail cell,” Mr. Maduro had said in the speech.
The U.S. imposed sanctions against Mr. Maduro on Monday, saying his government abused human rights and organized an illegitimate vote designed to advance an authoritarian regime.
The U.S. move freezes any assets Mr. Maduro may have in the U.S. and prevents American entities from doing business with him. Mr. Maduro also is barred from traveling to the U.S.
“This is a very serious escalation. Hustling these people out of bed in the dead of night and locking them up is a sign the regime is preparing for a showdown with the international community,” said Roger Noriega, a former senior official with the George W. Bush administration.
“It’s a defiant response to U.S. sanctions and the U.S. will have to decide very quickly how to respond.”
Both Mr. Lopez and Mr. Ledezma have been serving sentences under house arrest for allegedly instigating violence, charges that they deny. Both have posted videos in recent days condemning Mr. Maduro for staging a power grab, in an apparent violation of their sentencing terms.
“This was a fraud foretold,” Mr. Ledezma, 62 years old, said in the video posted just hours before his arrest, adding he knew of the risk carried by his statement. “We know that the state apparatus has been put at the service of the totalitarian regime, of the tyranny.”
The arrest of Mr. Lopez, 46 years old, comes less than a month after the head of the Popular Will opposition party was released from military jail, where he spent more than three years.
His commuted sentences had raised hopes for a rapprochement between the government and the opposition after months of unrest, which claimed more than 120 lives to date.
Those hopes were spoiled by Mr. Maduro’s decision to go ahead with elections for the controversial assembly and the turnout of eight million announced by the president’s allies on the electoral council.
Diego Moya-Ocampos, political risk analyst with IHS, said the arrests show Mr. Maduro is worried about the country’s growing economic isolation and threat of new U.S. sanctions against the country’s vital oil industry.
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