CARACAS, Venezuela -- Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro poured into the streets Friday to condemn the surprise arrest of Caracas' mayor regarding alleged participation in a U.S.-backed plot to overthrow his government.
An armed commando unit dressed in camouflage raided Mayor Antonio Ledezma's office late Thursday and hauled him away despite 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 their car horns.
The mayor was charged with conspiracy, a crime punishable by eight to 16 years in prison, and sent Friday night to a military prison outside Caracas where other prominent government foes are being held.
The arrest of the 59-year-old 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 in recent days to rail against his opponents, accusing them of conspiring with the United States to sabotage the oil-dependent economy, sow chaos and carry out a coup timed to coincide with the anniversary this month of 2014 anti-government protests that caused more than 40 deaths.
As part of the crackdown, he has 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.
However, the situation hasn't translated into support for the frequently outmaneuvered opposition.
Turnout at Friday's demonstration was the largest for an anti-government rally in months but nowhere near the throngs that rocked cities a year ago, a sign of the steep challenge the opposition still faces connecting with voters ahead of legislative elections later this year that.
The government's case against Ledezma appeared to stem from a public letter he wrote with two other hard-liners calling for a transitional government. Maduro said the letter, published in an anti-government newspaper, was the green light for a secretly hatched putsch, and on Friday said that next week he would present videos and recordings detailing U.S. Embassy involvement in the plot.
The U.S., which this month expanded a travel ban on Venezuelan officials accused of human-rights abuses and corruption, called the accusations "baseless and false."
The Obama administration said Friday that it is considering additional actions to pressure the government after this month's expansion of a travel ban on individuals accused of corruption and abuses. It also called on regional governments to ensure that Venezuela lives up to its commitments to democracy.
"Venezuela's problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent," State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, the U.S.' top ally in the region, urged that Ledezma's due-process rights be respected, but stopped short of calling for the mayor's release. Brazil, whose Workers Party government is close to Maduro and is a major investor in Venezuela, expressed concern and called on both sides to "work for peace and the maintenance of democracy."
Foreign ministers from the two countries and Ecuador are expected to arrive in Caracas in the coming days to try to open a channel of dialogue between the government and the opposition.
Information for this article was contributed by Luis Alonso Lugo, Jacobo G. Garcia and Bradley Brooks of The Associated Press.
A Section on 02/21/2015