2 Venezuela Oppn leaders arrested

Caracas, Aug. 1: Venezuela’s intelligence service took two prominent Opposition leaders back to prison early on Tuesday, authorities said, as embattled President Nicolas Maduro moved to shore up his power after an election widely denounced as a sham.

The action, carried out in the dead of night, came one day before a new Assembly elected on Sunday takes office, superseding the Opposition-controlled legislature.

In a statement, the Supreme Court said Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were sent back to prison because they had violated the terms of their house arrest by making political statements. It said authorities acted with urgency because they had received intelligence that the pair “had a plan to flee.”

Lawyers for the two men vehemently denied the

Brothers the world over, please cast your eyes on our country, we need you to forcefully protest against then ar co dictatorship.

— MITZY CAPRILES, Wife of Antonio Ledezma

existence of any escape plans.

The move was swiftly criticised as a “step in the wrong direction” by both the US and the EU.

The men are two of Venezuela’s most high profile Opposition leaders. Both had called for a boycott of Sunday’s vote for an all-powerful “constituent Assembly” tasked with rewriting the Constitution. They were picked up by the intelligence service known by its acronym Sebin, the wife of Lopez and children of Ledezma said separately. — AFP