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Venezuela key opposition leaders seized after poll | Venezuela key opposition leaders seized after poll |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Two Venezuelan opposition leaders, Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, have been re-arrested, relatives of pair say. | |
They were under house arrest after accusations of inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014. | They were under house arrest after accusations of inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014. |
Their families said they did not know where the two had been taken. | |
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. | |
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". | |
Days before the vote, Mr López recorded a video from his home, the first since he was transferred to house arrest on 8 July after spending more than three years in jail. | |
In it, he said that President Maduro was threatening democracy in Venezuela. | |
'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. | |
A woman can be heard shouting "They're taking Ledezma, they're taking Ledezma, dictatorship!" | A woman can be heard shouting "They're taking Ledezma, they're taking Ledezma, dictatorship!" |