Venezuela Opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were taken from their homes by intelligence agents in the early hours of Tuesday morning, their family members alleged, reported CNN. The Opposition condemned the detentions and termed them as “kidnappings”. They also said the whereabouts of the two men were currently unknown.

The two were under house arrest before they were taken away. “We do not know where he is or where he is being taken,” Lopez’s wife Lilian Tintori tweeted on early Tuesday morning. “[President Nicolas] Maduro is responsible if something happens to him.”

She also included a video of what appears to be her husband being led into a vehicle by alleged members of Venezuela’s intelligence agency.

“12:27 in the morning: the moment when the dictatorship kidnaps Leopoldo at my house,” she said in another tweet.

Ledezma’s daughter, Oriette, blamed the current regime in a video statement. “We do not know where he was taken,” Oriette said. “A group of men came with their faces concealed and in camouflage and they took him. They have kidnapped him once again. We hold the regime responsible for his life and physical integrity.”

The United States on Monday had imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan government, a day after President Nicolas Maduro won a controversial election giving his government more power. The sanctions banned any US citizens from doing business with Maduro, and froze Maduro’s assets in their country.

Maduro and his aides claimed 40% of Venezuelans voted in the polls, while Opposition activists said the real figure was only around 12%.</s>Two Venezuelan opposition leaders have been arrested and dragged away from their homes after controversial elections marred by bloodshed.

Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo Lopez, high profile critics of President Nicolas Maduro, were hauled out of their houses by intelligence services, relatives say.

The arrests came a day after a vote to choose a much-condemned assembly that supersedes parliament.

Lopez and Ledezma were both already under house arrest when they were picked up by the intelligence service.

The two men are Venezuela's most high profile opposition leaders. Both had called for a boycott of Sunday's vote for a so-called and all-powerful constituent assembly tasked with rewriting the constitution.

Both of their families said they held President Nicolas Maduro, the driving force behind the vote, responsible for the leaders' lives.

'They just took Leopoldo away. We do not know where he is or where they are taking him,' Lopez's wife Lilian Tintori said on Twitter.

The children of Ledezma - named Victor, Vanessa and Antonietta - also said on Twitter that the Sebin had taken away their father.

Opposition leaders and local media posted cell phone footage of Ledezma being taken away from his home forcibly.

Opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara said the arrests were aimed at 'frightening us and demoralising us.'

Last night,Maduro brushed off new U.S. sanctions on him and condemnation at home and abroad of the newly chosen constitutional assembly, saying the vote has given him a popular mandate to radically overhaul Venezuela's political system.

Maduro said Monday evening he had no intention of deviating from his plans to rewrite the constitution and go after a string of enemies, from independent Venezuelan news channels to gunmen he claimed were sent by neighbouring Colombia to disrupt the vote as part of an international conspiracy led by the man he calls 'Emperor Donald Trump.'

'They don't intimidate me. The threats and sanctions of the empire don't intimidate me for a moment,' Maduro said on national television. 'I don't listen to orders from the empire, not now or ever ... Bring on more sanctions, Donald Trump.'

A few hours earlier, Washington added Maduro to a steadily growing list of high-ranking Venezuelan officials targeted by financial sanctions, escalating a tactic that has so far failed to alter his socialist government's behavior.

For now, the Trump administration did not deliver on threats to sanction Venezuela's oil industry, which could undermine Maduro's government but raise U.S. gas prices and deepen the humanitarian crisis here.

The sanctions came after electoral authorities said more than 8 million people voted Sunday to create a constitutional assembly endowing Maduro's ruling party with virtually unlimited powers - a turnout doubted by independent analysts while the election was labeled illegitimate by leaders across the Americans and Europe.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council said turnout in Sunday's vote was 41.53 percent, or 8,089,320 people. The result would mean the ruling party won more support than it had in any national election since 2013, despite a cratering economy, spiraling inflation, shortages of medicine and malnutrition.

Opinion polls had said some 85 per cent of Venezuelans disapproved of the constitutional assembly and similar numbers disapproved of Maduro's overall performance.

Opposition leaders estimated the real turnout at less than half the government's claim in a vote watched by government-allied observers but no internationally recognised poll monitors.

An exit poll based on surveys from 110 voting centers by New York investment bank Torino Capital and a Venezuela public opinion company estimated 3.6 million people voted, or about 18.5 per cent of registered voters.

The electoral council's vote counts in the past had been seen as reliable and generally accurate, but the widely mocked announcement appeared certain to escalate the polarization and political conflict paralyzing the country.

'If it wasn't a tragedy ... if it didn't mean more crisis, the electoral council's number would almost make you laugh,' opposition leader Freddy Guevara said on Twitter. Maduro has threatened that one of the constitutional assembly's first acts would be jailing Guevara for inciting violence.

The constituent assembly will have the task of rewriting the country's constitution and will have powers above and beyond other state institutions, including the opposition-controlled congress.

Maduro has said the new assembly will begin to govern within a week. Among other measures, he said he would use the assembly's powers to bar opposition candidates from running in gubernatorial elections in December unless they sit with his party to negotiate an end to hostilities that have generated four months of protests that have killed at least 120 and wounded nearly 2,000.

Along with the U.S., the European Union and nations including Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Spain and Britain criticized Sunday's vote. Maduro said he had received congratulations from the governments of Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua, among others.

The monetary impact of the new U.S. sanctions wasn't immediately clear as Maduro's holdings in U.S. jurisdictions, if he has any, weren't publicized.

However, imposing sanctions on a head of state is rare and can be symbolically powerful, leading other countries to similarly shun such a leader.

For example, the U.S. has had sanctions against Syria's President Bashar Assad since 2011. Other heads of state currently subject to U.S. sanctions include Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

Maduro called the constitutional assembly in May after a month of protests against his government, which has overseen Venezuela's descent into a devastating crisis during its four years in power.

Due to plunging oil prices and widespread corruption and mismanagement, Venezuela's inflation and homicide rates are among the world's highest, and widespread shortages of food and medicine have citizens dying of preventable illnesses and rooting through trash to feed themselves.

The president of the opposition-led National Assembly, Julio Borges, told Venezuelan news channel Globovision on Monday that Maduro's foes would continue protesting until they won free elections and a change of government.

He said Sunday's vote gave Maduro 'less legitimacy, less credibility, less popular support and less ability to govern.'</s>Two of Venezuela’s leading opposition figures were taken from their homes in the middle of the night by state security agents on Tuesday, in President Nicolas Maduro’s first moves against his enemies since a widely denounced vote giving his government nearly unlimited powers.

The wife of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez posted what appeared to be video of him being taken from their home after midnight.

“They’ve just taken Leopoldo from the house,” Lilian Tintori wrote on Twitter. “We don’t know where he is or where they’re taking him.”

Opinion: Dictatorship in Venezuela will soon be reality

Allies of former Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma posted video online of a man who appeared to be the opposition leader being taken by state security as a woman screams for help for neighbours.

Lopez was detained three years ago after protests against Maduro’s government and sentenced to more than a decade in prison on charges that include inciting protesters to violence. He was released last month to serve the rest of his term under house arrest. Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor, was also detained in 2015 and has been under house arrest.

Both have recently posted videos online denouncing Maduro’s decision to hold a vote for a constitutional assembly with the power to overhaul Venezuela’s political system.

Maduro said Monday evening he had no intention of deviating from his plans to rewrite the constitution and go after a string of enemies, from independent Venezuelan news channels to gunmen he claimed were sent by neighbouring Colombia to disrupt the vote as part of an international conspiracy led by the man he calls “Emperor Donald Trump.”

“They don’t intimidate me. The threats and sanctions of the empire don’t intimidate me for a moment,” Maduro said on national television. “I don’t listen to orders from the empire, not now or ever ... Bring on more sanctions, Donald Trump.”

A few hours earlier, Washington added Maduro to a steadily growing list of high-ranking Venezuelan officials targeted by financial sanctions, escalating a tactic that has so far failed to alter his socialist government’s behaviour. For now, the Trump administration has not delivered on threats to sanction Venezuela’s oil industry, which could undermine Maduro’s government but raise U.S. gas prices and deepen the humanitarian crisis here.

The sanctions came after electoral authorities said more than 8 million people voted Sunday to create the constitutional assembly — a turnout doubted by independent analysts while the election was labeled illegitimate by leaders across the Americans and Europe.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said turnout in Sunday’s vote was 41.53 per cent, or 8,089,320 people. The result would mean the ruling party won more support than it had in any national election since 2013, despite a cratering economy, spiraling inflation, shortages of medicine and malnutrition. Opinion polls had said some 85 per cent of Venezuelans disapproved of the constitutional assembly and similar numbers disapproved of Maduro’s overall performance.

Opposition leaders estimated the real turnout at less than half the government’s claim in a vote watched by government-allied observers but no internationally recognized poll monitors.

An exit poll based on surveys from 110 voting centres by New York investment bank Torino Capital and a Venezuela public opinion company estimated 3.6 million people voted, or about 18.5 per cent of registered voters.

The national electoral council’s vote counts in the past had been seen as reliable and generally accurate, but the widely mocked announcement appeared certain to escalate the polarization and political conflict paralyzing the country.

The constituent assembly will have the task of rewriting the country’s constitution and will have powers above and beyond other state institutions, including the opposition-controlled congress.

Maduro has said the new assembly will begin to govern within a week. Among other measures, he said he would use the assembly’s powers to bar opposition candidates from running in gubernatorial elections in December unless they sit with his party to negotiate an end to hostilities that have generated four months of protests that have killed at least 120 and wounded nearly 2,000.

Along with the U.S., the European Union and nations including Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Spain and Britain criticized Sunday’s vote. Maduro said he had received congratulations from the governments of Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua, among others.

Maduro called the constitutional assembly in May after a month of protests against his government, which has overseen Venezuela’s descent into a devastating crisis during its four years in power. Due to plunging oil prices and widespread corruption and mismanagement, Venezuela’s inflation and homicide rates are among the world’s highest, and widespread shortages of food and medicine have citizens dying of preventable illnesses and rooting through trash to feed themselves.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela -- Allies of two Venezuelan opposition leaders say Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma have been taken by authorities from the homes where they were under house arrest.

Video posted on the Twitter account of Lopez's wife early Tuesday showed a man being taken away from a Caracas home by state security agents. Wife Lilian Tintori said in a tweet that, "they've just taken Leopoldo from the house. We don't know where he is."

Lopez was detained three years after protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government and sentenced to more than a decade in prison on charges that include inciting protesters to violence. He was released last month to serve the rest of his term under house arrest. Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor, was also detained in 2015 and has been under house arrest.

President Nicolas Maduro meanwhile brushed off new U.S. sanctions on him and condemnation at home and abroad of the newly chosen constitutional assembly, saying the vote had given him a popular mandate to radically overhaul Venezuela's political system.

Maduro said Monday evening that he had no intention of deviating from his plans to rewrite the constitution and go after a string of enemies, from independent Venezuelan news channels to gunmen he claimed were sent by neighboring Colombia to disrupt the vote as part of an international conspiracy led by the man he calls "Emperor Donald Trump."

"They don't intimidate me. The threats and sanctions of the empire don't intimidate me for a moment," Maduro said on national television. "I don't listen to orders from the empire, not now or ever ... Bring on more sanctions, Donald Trump."

A few hours earlier, Washington added Maduro to a steadily growing list of high-ranking Venezuelan officials targeted by financial sanctions, escalating a tactic that has so far failed to alter his socialist government's behavior. For now, the Trump administration did not deliver on threats to sanction Venezuela's oil industry, which could undermine Maduro's government but raise U.S. gas prices and deepen the humanitarian crisis here.

The sanctions came after electoral authorities said more than 8 million people voted Sunday to create a constitutional assembly endowing Maduro's ruling party with virtually unlimited powers -- a turnout doubted by independent analysts while the election was labeled illegitimate by leaders across the Americans and Europe.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council said turnout in Sunday's vote was 41.53 percent, or 8,089,320 people. The result would mean the ruling party won more support than it had in any national election since 2013, despite a cratering economy, spiraling inflation, shortages of medicine and malnutrition.

Opinion polls had said some 85 percent of Venezuelans disapproved of the constitutional assembly and similar numbers disapproved of Maduro's overall performance.

Opposition leaders estimated the real turnout at less than half the government's claim in a vote watched by government-allied observers but no internationally recognized poll monitors.

An exit poll based on surveys from 110 voting centers by New York investment bank Torino Capital and a Venezuela public opinion company estimated 3.6 million people voted, or about 18.5 percent of registered voters.

The electoral council's vote counts in the past had been seen as reliable and generally accurate, but the widely mocked announcement appeared certain to escalate the polarization and political conflict paralyzing the country.

"If it wasn't a tragedy ... if it didn't mean more crisis, the electoral council's number would almost make you laugh," opposition leader Freddy Guevara said on Twitter.

Maduro has threatened that one of the constitutional assembly's first acts would be jailing Guevara for inciting violence. But speaking to CBS News' Manuel Bojorquez on Monday, the Guevara was adamant that the opposition movement would carry on in the face of the threats.

"We have to go forward with the pressure on the streets. We have to go forward with the international pressure," Guevara told CBS News. "We have go and go and go, like a river that goes to the ocean, until the Venezuelan people get free."

Protesters have vowed to keep taking to the streets. As Bojorquez reports, the steadfast refusal of either the opposition or Maduro to bow to pressure as Venezuela's political crisis escalates means more turmoil is likely in the coming days.

The newly-elected constitutional assembly could meet as soon as Wednesday to start drafting a new constitution.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Videos of the arrests were shared on social media

Two Venezuelan opposition leaders, Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, have been re-arrested in a move condemned internationally.

They were under house arrest after accusations of inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014.

The two have been taken to Ramo Verde military jail, family members say.

The Supreme Court, which critics say is dominated by government loyalists, said it had received intelligence reports alleging the two were trying to flee.

The court also said that it had revoked Mr Ledezma's and Mr López's house arrest because they had made political statements.

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said he was "deeply concerned" that the pair had been taken back into custody.

The move comes just two days after a controversial vote for a constitutional assembly saw violence on the streets, with at least 10 people killed.

President Nicolás Maduro convened the assembly to rewrite Venezuela's constitution amid spiralling anti-government protests on 1 May.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Antonietta Ledezma: "My father knew the risks"

He argued that the move would create peace and foster dialogue by bringing together different sectors of Venezuela's polarised society.

But the opposition accused the president of trying to rewrite the constitution in order to maximise his power and sideline the opposition-controlled legislature.

They boycotted the vote and called on Venezuelans to take to the streets in protest. The election was condemned by Latin American leaders, the European Union and the US.

The day of the election was the deadliest so far since the current wave of protest began.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced on Monday that the US had imposed sanctions on President Maduro and called him a "dictator who disregards the will of the Venezuelan people".

'Taken away'

Mr López was taken from his home at 12:27 local time (04:27GMT) on Tuesday, his wife, Lilian Tintori, wrote on Twitter.

A video posted showed him being taken away by members of the Venezuelan intelligence service, Sebin.

Lilian Tintori wrote that she would hold President Nicolás Maduro responsible if something were to happen to her husband.

The daughter of Mr Ledezma, Vanessa Ledezma, also posted a video of her father, wearing pyjamas, being taken away by the Sebin.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Ledezma's wife, Mitzy Capriles, said her husband's detention was an attempt to "break" them

A woman can be heard shouting "They're taking Ledezma, they're taking Ledezma, dictatorship!"

The European Union criticised the detentions as a step in the wrong direction and Chile's foreign minister said they "sent an abysmal signal".

The US also condemned the arrests. Republican Senator Marco Rubio noted that US Vice-President Mike Pence has spoken to Mr López last Friday, and characterised the arrests as a response to the sanctions placed on Mr Maduro.

Both Mr Ledezma and Mr López were key figures in the wave of protests which swept through Venezuela in 2014 in which 43 people from both sides of the political divide were killed.

They have played a less prominent role in the most recent protests because they have been under house arrest but their video messages still get reported and shared widely on opposition websites.

Leopoldo López

Image copyright Reuters

46-year-old leader and founder of the Venezuelan opposition People's Will (Voluntad Popular) party

Sentenced to 13 years and nine months in jail in September 2015 for incitement to violence

Has always denied any wrongdoing, his wife heads an international campaign for his release

Released from military prison and put under house arrest on 8 July 2017 for "health reasons"

Published a video on YouTube on 25 July urging Venezuelans to protest against the constituent assembly and the military

Antonio Ledezma

Image copyright EPA</s>Two of Venezuela's leading opposition figures were taken away from their homes by the country's intelligence service early Tuesday morning, according to their families.

Family members posted videos of opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma being detained and claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should be held responsible for whatever happened to them.

"12:27 am: The time when the dictatorship kidnaps Leopoldo at my house," Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, tweeted in Spanish.

"They just took Leopoldo from the house. We do not know where he is or where he is being taken. Maduro is responsible if something happens to him," she wrote in a separate tweet.

Tintori also shared a video that appeared to show Lopez being pushed into a vehicle marked "SEBIN," an abbreviation for Venezuela's intelligence agency.

Ledezma’s daughter, Vanessa Ledezma, shared similar footage on Tuesday morning, writing in Spanish: “I hold Nicolas Maduro responsible for my father's life ... the sebin just dragged him away, we don't know where he is. Let the whole world know!”

The detentions come amid heightened tensions following months of protests that have resulted in more than 100 deaths, according to the Associated Press. On Sunday, the government held a highly controversial vote that resulted in the creation of a new legislative body that Maduro has called for to redraft the country's constitution.

Lopez and Antonio Ledezma had recently called for the public to boycott Sunday's election and the U.S. condemned it.

The U.S. authorized new economic sanctions against Maduro on Monday in retaliation for what it referred to as "illegitimate elections" that it said undermined Venezuelan democracy.

“Yesterday’s illegitimate elections confirm that Maduro is a dictator who disregards the will of the Venezuelan people,” Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin wrote in a statement Monday. "By sanctioning Maduro, the United States makes clear our opposition to the policies of his regime and our support for the people of Venezuela who seek to return their country to a full and prosperous democracy."

Lopez was granted house arrest last month after serving three years in prison in connection with charges that he incited violence during anti-government protests in 2014.

Ledezma has been under house arrest since 2015 after being imprisoned on charges that he was plotting a coup against Maduro.</s>The re-arrest of two of Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leaders in midnight operations has prompted further condemnation of President Nicolás Maduro’s government – which was already accused of attempting to seize absolute power in the crisis-hit country.



Security officials led the raids early on Tuesday after the supreme court ruled that Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma violated the terms of their house arrests by calling on Venezuelans to protest against the weekend vote to elect a new body to rewrite the constitution.

The vote for the constituent assembly was boycotted by the opposition, and has been denounced around the world as an attack on democracy.

López was sentenced to 14 years for his role in leading street protests against Maduro in 2014. Ledezma is accused of plotting a coup. Human rights defenders have said in both cases the charges have been trumped up.

According to a statement from the pro-government supreme court the two also had plans to flee.

UN human rights cheif Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said he was “deeply concerned” that the two men were taken into custody. “I urge the authorities not to make an already extremely volatile situation even worse through the use of excessive force, including through violent house raids by security forces that have occurred in various parts of the country.”

The US state department said the detentions were further evidence that Maduro “is not willing to respect fundamental human rights.”

José Miguel Vivanco, America’s director at Human Rights Watch, said the re-arrests “expose the true nature of the dictatorship (Maduro) is imposing on Venezuelans.

“Maduro may lock up two prominent political prisoners, but he cannot silence the millions of Venezuelans who oppose his government, nor key democratic leaders abroad who know that these detentions are desperate moves to cling to power at the expense of Venezuela’s democracy and the rights of its people.”

Lopez’s wife Lilian Tintori posted a video of the moment of the arrest of her husband on Twitter. “12:27 in the morning: the moment when the dictatorship kidnaps Leopoldo at my house.”

López was granted house arrest early last month after spending three years in the Ramo Verde prison. Ledezma has been under house arrest since 2015. His daughter, Vanessa, posted a video of her father, wearing pyjamas, being taken away by officials of the Sebin intelligence service.

Other opponents of the government have been targeted by security forces, and several human rights activists have gone into hiding since Friday following repeated raids on their homes, one source told the Guardian. Several are considering leaving the country, said the source, who requested anonymity.

Since 1 April, when widespread protests began against the government, more than 121 people have been killed. According to the prosecutor’s office, 16 died on Sunday, when the vote was held for the new constituent assembly, which would have the power to dissolve the legislature and other state institutions as well as rewrite the constitution.

More than 5,000 people have been detained by security forces in the past four months, and 1,389 remain in custody, according to Foro Penal, a human rights group. By the organization’s count there are 498 political prisoners in the country.

Boris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, accused Maduro of “acting like a dictator of an evil regime” and called for for the release of political prisoners.

The opposition-controlled parliament convened on Tuesday for the first time since Sunday’s vote.



“Our message is that the constituent assembly should be cancelled,” Julio Borges, head of the parliament, said.

However, state media have said the assembly will meet on Thursday in a chamber of the Capitol – a legislative building adjacent to the parliament. It remains unclear who will participate, as the national electoral council has not yet released the names of the body’s newly-elected members.

The ambassadors of the UK, France, Spain and Mexico – countries that said they would not recognize the new super-body – attended the parliamentary session in support of the lawmakers elected in December 2015 elections, where members of the opposition coalition, known as MUD won a majority of seats.

“I am here to support democracy in Venezuela and to help to find a solution and a peaceful way out of the crisis,” the UK’s ambassador, John Saville, said.

Maduro called the controversial constituent assembly earlier this year, arguing that the move would create peace and foster dialogue in a deeply polarized country that is suffering a severe economic crisis. The opposition blames government mismanagement, while the government lays the blame on what it calls an “economic war” against Venezuela.

On Monday, the US imposed individual economic sanctions on Maduro on Monday, calling him a “dictator who disregards the will of the Venezuelan people”.

It had previously frozen the assets of 13 senior government officials and managers at the state oil company.

But the measures are largely symbolic, and the US has so far held back from imposing broader sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry – which could have a devastating impact on the country’s economy.

Maduro brushed off the move, saying: “The threats and sanctions of the empire don’t intimidate me for a moment. I don’t listen to orders from the empire, not now or ever. Bring on more sanctions, Donald Trump.”</s>Allies of two Venezuelan opposition leaders say Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma have been taken by authorities from the homes where they were under house arrest.

Video posted on the Twitter account of Lopez's wife early Tuesday shows a man being taken away from a Caracas home by state security agents. Wife Lilian Tintori says in a tweet that "they've just taken Leopoldo from the house. We don't know where he is."

Lopez was detained three years after protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government and sentenced to more than a decade in prison on charges that include inciting protesters to violence. He was released last month to serve the rest of his term under house arrest. Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor, was also detained in 2015 and has been under house arrest.

The Times will update this article.

Venezuela's Maduro threatens to jail opposition leaders, is sanctioned by U.S. »</s>Masked security forces staged middle-of-night raids Tuesday to haul away two leading Venezuelan opposition leaders already under house arrest, possibly signaling an expanded crackdown on dissent after widely denounced elections to boost the authoritian government.

The moves against Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma could intensify the international fallout after Sunday’s election that created a new super congress stocked with backers of the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

The vote was decried as fraud by the opposition and prompted the Trump administration on Monday to slap sanctions on Maduro. After the election results were announced Sunday, Maduro gave a bellicose victory speech on national TV that included threats to jail political leaders encouraging protests.

Authorities only last month released López, 46, into house arrest after nearly three and a half years behind bars. At the time, the government called the decision a humanitarian gesture, citing his poor health, though supporters saw the move as an attempt to reduce international pressure.

In a video posted on Twitter by Lilian Tintori, López’s wife, masked security forces in riot gear can be seen in front of what appears to be the family’s house, leading a man from the door and putting him in an official car.

“They just took Leopoldo from home,” Tintori tweeted. “We don’t know where he is or where they took him. Maduro is responsible if something happens.”

Venezuela’s most prominent political prisoner and former mayor of a district in Caracas, López was arrested in early 2014 and handed a 13-year jail term. He became a symbol of resistance for opponents of the government, his portrait printed in bright colors on the T-shirts and flags of protesters who chant, “Free Leopoldo!”

At the time of his release, López, who was forbidden from speaking to the press, issued a statement saying he was ready to return to prison “fight for freedom.”

Roland Carreño, a senior member of López’s party, confirmed on Twitter that López had been taken to the Ramo Verde military prison southwest of Caracas.

Also taken into government custody early Tuesday was Ledezma, former mayor of Caracas. His wife, Mitzy Capriles de Ledezma, posted a video on Twitter showing a dramatic melee as authorities entered their home and hauled him away.

“What’s happening, my friend,” a woman in her pajamas asks a squad of masked, uninformed men in her house. The men appear to be from the government’s Bolivarian Intelligence Service.

“They’re taking Ledezma!” another voice shouts in the background.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Ledezma’s wife said her husband had posted a Twitter video on Monday, despite being in house arrest, and suggested that may one reason he was hauled away.

In the video, Ledezma, with a Venezuela flag in the background, called the constituent assembly vote a fraud, criticized the armed forces and rejected the government-controlled supreme court. He also critiqued the opposition for its lack of strategy.

Lopez last week had also released a video on twitter, encouraging people to keep fighting and reject Sunday’s vote.

“One more time Nicolás Maduro shows off his dictator-like qualities,” said Mitzy Capriles de Ledezma. She insisted the move smacked of desperation, saying “the fact that Antonio is again in prison means Maduro knows he’s on his way out.”

Early Tuesday, Ledezma’s daughter, Oriette Ledezma, issued a video statement saying her father was “kidnapped” by Maduro’s forces.

“He was in his pajamas,” she said. “We don’t now where they took him. A group of masked men in camouflage took him …. We make the regime responsible for his life and physical integrity.”

She added, “this is for Venezuela and the rest of the world because they keep violating the human rights,”

Ledezma was previously arrested in December 2015. Maduro at the time said he was part of a conspiracy to overthrow the government. In May of that year, he was remitted to house arrest after receiving surgery for a hernia.

In 2013, Ledezma, from the Alianza Bravo Pueblo party, was reelected as mayor. In January 2017, Maduro created a higher executive post in the city, “Chief the greater state of Caracas,” and named pro-government official to the job.</s>Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, branded a “dictator” by the U.S. on Monday, set out to act like one on Tuesday, sending masked state security agents to seize two opposition leaders from their homes in the middle of the night.

A few hours later, Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma were said to be back in military prison. The Maduro-stacked Supreme Court accused them of violating their house-arrest terms by making political statements. Both had condemned the election Sunday of a new legislative body with nearly unlimited powers.

The violence-marred vote, widely viewed as fraudulent, prompted the Trump administration to slap sanctions on Maduro and declare him a dictator. Detaining opponents is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes consolidating power. The White House again called Venezuela a dictatorship Tuesday after the raids on the opposition.

Top Maduro deputies spent Tuesday reaffirming their loyalty on state-run television, which ignored dramatic videos posted online of the pre-dawn detentions of Lopez and Ledezma.

The Venezuelan court alleged López, 46, and Ledezma, 62, plotted to escape. López’s attorney, Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, told reporters López never planned to flee.

López’s wife, Lilian Tintori, posted security-camera video of agents shoving her husband into a marked car at 12:27 a.m.

“We don’t know where he is or where they’re taking him,” Tintori wrote. “Maduro is responsible if anything happens to him.”

Ledezma was taken to the Ramo Verde military prison, an infamous jail for political prisoners about an hour southwest of Caracas, according to his wife, Mitzy Capriles.

A video shared by Ledezma’s family on Twitter showed camouflage-clad agents of the National Bolivarian Intelligence Service, known as SEBIN, pulling Ledezma through a building’s glass front doors. He wore blue pajamas.

“They’re taking Ledezma!” a woman screams at her neighbors in the video. “It’s a dictatorship!”

López, Venezuela’s most high-profile political prisoner, was first detained three years ago amid massive student-led opposition protests. The government accused him of inciting violence and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. He became the face of Venezuela’s opposition, with international human-rights advocates repeatedly denouncing his prolonged periods of solitary confinement.

Citing López’s supposed ill health, his jailers released him to house arrest last month, ahead of Sunday’s vote for a national constituent assembly. Last week, he posted a video online rejecting the election. His attorney said he never disobeyed the terms of his house arrest, which the attorney said prohibited López only from speaking publicly about his case.

Tintori posted another video online Tuesday, pre-recorded on July 17, in which López acknowledged he might be arrested again.

“If you’re watching this video, it’s because that’s what happened: because they came and put me back in prison illegally. Imprisoned for my ideas,” he said. “We know the risk we’re running as a family.”

The couple has two young children. López said in the video that Tintori is pregnant. Capriles told CNN en Español that Tintori is about 16 weeks along.

Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor, released a video Monday noting he ran the risk of returning to prison. The court said he’d been barred from making any public statements.

“This was a fraud foretold,” Ledezma said of the election.

Ledezma was first detained in 2015 and later placed under house arrest. He was “kidnapped” Tuesday morning, one of his daughters, Oriette Ledezma, said on social media.

Ledezma’s downstairs neighbor, Maria Elvira Palacios, said she heard pounding and yelling around 12:40 a.m. and saw agents carrying rifles.

“It was terrible,” she said. “It’s such a harsh thing, to take a person who’s sleeping in his bed.”

In Washington, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House “holds Maduro personally responsible for the health and safety of both men and any other seized by his dictatorship.”

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who addressed Venezuelans in a speech aired late Monday on Globovisión, an independent news channel, noted Tuesday that Vice President Mike Pence spoke to López by phone Friday.

“There should be no doubt that his arrest is a direct challenge to President Trump,” Rubio said.

In Venezuela, state-run television showed government official after government official delivering statements of defiance toward the U.S. and international community. Caracas Mayor Jorge Rodríguez compared battling U.S. sanctions to Venezuelan liberator Simón Bolívar taking on colonialist Spain.

“We’ll defend the most sacred interests of the Venezuelan people at all costs,” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López vowed.

Maduro warned Monday that the new assembly, packed with members of his ruling socialist party, would result in “a jail cell” for some opposition lawmakers and anyone conspiring against his government with “Emperor Donald Trump.”

Hours earlier, Maduro had become the fourth sitting head of state personally sanctioned by the U.S., along with Bashar Assad of Syria, Kim Jong-un of North Korea and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

More sanctions are expected, though the Trump administration has yet to follow through with promised economic penalties, including placing potential financial limits on Venezuela’s all-important oil industry.

“The president is prepared to respond further as Maduro’s actions toward his people dictate,” said Fernando Cutz, South America director for the National Security Council.

The opposition-held National Assembly convened at the legislative palace Tuesday, with ambassadors of Britain, France, Mexico and Spain in attendance to support the democratically elected parliament. The new constituent assembly must be seated by Wednesday.

The National Electoral Council, whose members are almost all Maduro loyalists, claimed more than 8 million people voted in Sunday’s election, a figure disputed by opposition leaders and independent analysts who estimated turnout was less than half that. Maduro bragged about receiving congratulations from Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Russia.

The electoral council’s lone opposition member, Luis Emilio Rondón, said Tuesday he couldn’t back Sunday’s results, citing ignored protocols, skipped audits and other irregularities.

“The doubts the Venezuelan people might have over the results are reasonable,” he said. “I can’t endorse the consistency or veracity of the results.”

Opposition leaders have plans for further protests. But left without any avenues to power, some demonstrators struggled Monday to hide their weary disappointment in the wake of the questionable results.

“In 120 days of peaceful protest against the regime, they’ve never let us reach the places where we’ve wanted to go,” 45-year-old Wilman Asuaje lamented. “I’m a little disillusioned by the results, but we’re not defeated.”
Venezuelan opposition leaders Leopoldo López and Mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma are seized at their homes overnight by the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and taken to Ramo Verde Prison. They had been arrested previously by the Venezuelan government, but were under house arrest at the time of being seized.