CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has arrested several opposition activists accused of plotting violence during an anti-government rally scheduled for Thursday, President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday, and opposition leaders slammed the arrests as intimidation.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) attends a pro-government gathering in Caracas, Venezuela August 30, 2016. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

The opposition is calling on sympathizers from across the country to march in the capital of Caracas to push for a recall referendum against Maduro, who calls the rally a plot to stir up violence and set the stage for a coup.

The upcoming march follows months of tensions between Maduro and the opposition-controlled legislature, exacerbated by triple-digit inflation, Soviet-style product shortages and a severe economic recession.

“We must win the battle against the coup - before, during, and after the dates announced by these fascists,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast. “We’ve captured a group of people carrying important equipment, C4 explosives. We’re trying to capture a number of them in real time.”

Maduro called opposition party Popular Will “the party of violence that is mixed up in the coup of Sept. 1.” He accused opposition leaders of seeking to stage a putsch similar to one that briefly toppled late socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 2002.

Intelligence agents on Tuesday raided Popular Will’s offices and arrested long-time street activist Carlos Melo, opposition parties said. Popular Will activist Yon Goicoechea was arrested on Monday on charges of carrying explosives.

Another Popular Will leader, jailed former mayor Daniel Ceballos, was transferred to prison from house arrest on Saturday. He was accused of trying to escape his home to plot violence during the march.

Opposition leaders have accused elections authorities of intentionally stalling the recall vote. Maduro’s approval rating in July fell to a nine-month low of 21 percent, according to pollster Datanalisis.

“We denounce the pathetic way in which the government is seeking to demobilize and intimidate the democratic leadership,” said Jesus Torrealba, leader of the Democratic Unity coalition.

Opposition sympathizers have been walking from far-flung corners of the country to join the Caracas march.Popular Will was founded by Leopoldo Lopez, a former mayor jailed for leading the 2014 anti-government protests. The opposition describes him as a political prisoner, and rights groups across the world have pressured Venezuela to release him.

The issue of jailed opposition leaders helped scuttle a brief 2015 rapprochement between Venezuela and the United States, its main ideological adversary.

Maduro insists his government does not hold political prisoners and described Lopez as a dangerous criminal. </s> CARACAS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities rounded up 25 opposition activists and supporters in the last two days amid plans for a massive protest against President Nicolas Maduro, a rights group said on Wednesday.

Opposition supporters around the country are descending on Caracas for rallies scheduled for Thursday to demand a recall referendum against the unpopular socialist leader. But Maduro, 53, says they are planning violence and a coup.

The local Penal Forum rights group said that of 25 people held in the last 48 hours, 12 had been released while 13 were still in custody by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

While Maduro accuses opposition parties of trying to reprise a 2002 putsch against Chavez, they say the government is carrying out a wave of repression to intimidate them before Thursday's marches that they have dubbed "Takeover of Caracas".

It was not clear if those still being held would be charged or if the detentions were preventive to stop them participating in Thursday's events. Authorities did not immediately respond to queries about the arrests. (Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and David Gregorio) </s> • Venezuelan intelligence agents arrested the vice president of the opposition-led national assembly on Wednesday.
• Authorities attempted to detain Edgar Zambrano as he drove out of the opposition party headquarters, but he refused to leave his car.
• His car was then towed directly into a Caracas prison with him still inside.
• The detention is part of a larger crackdown on opposition leaders who participated in last week’s failed military uprising.

Venezuelan authorities arrested the vice president of the opposition-led national assembly on Wednesday – the first detention of a major opposition figure since last week’s failed military uprising against President Nicolás Maduro.

Edgar Zambrano was leaving his party’s headquarters in Caracas when agents from the SEBIN intelligence agency stopped his car, the politician tweeted. After he refused to leave his vehicle, security forces towed him to the infamous Helicoide prison.

“We democrats will keep fighting,” he said on Twitter.

Zambrano was among the high profile leaders who joined an attempted revolt against the socialist government last Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. He went to the Caracas bridge where opposition leader Juan Guaidó was calling for military defections, and thanked the small group of rebel soldiers who had changed allegiances.

The protest failed to spark any large scale defections.

Read more: Protestors clash with the regime as the opposition struggles to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Maduro ally Diosdado Cabello confirmed on state television that Zambrano was arrested because of his involvement in the uprising.

“He was one of the principal bosses behind the coup,” Cabello said to loud applause. “The tow truck got him.”

Guaidó accused Maduro’s government of “kidnapping” his deputy, and undermining the people who voted opposition lawmakers into the national assembly. Guaidó and his supporters believe elections for other government bodies were rigged.

“With these actions, the usurpers want to affect the only democratic institution legitimized by the popular vote,” Guaidó tweeted.

The US State Department said Zambrano’s detention was “illegal and inexcusable.”

“If he is not freed immediately, there will be consequences,” the American embassy in Venezuela tweeted.

Wednesday’s arrest is part of a larger crackdown in response to the unsuccessful revolt.

The Constituent Assembly, stacked with Maduro loyalists, had already revoked parliamentary immunity from Zambrano and six other lawmakers so they could be prosecuted, The Guardian reported. The opposition does not recognize the decision.

The Maduro government also said it was investigating Zambrano and eight other opposition leaders for “betraying the homeland” and “instigating insurrection,” according to the AP.

Guaidó believes he hasn’t been arrested yet because Maduro fears retaliation.

“Because they’re scared. Those that try to spread or generate a perception of control are the ones that don’t have it,” Guaidó told CNN.

The US, Guaidó’s most important international backer, has already threatened military intervention in Venezuela if other avenues for Maduro’s removal do not succeed. </s> Caracas, Venezuela -- Security forces arrested the No. 2 leader of Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress Wednesday as President Nicolás Maduro's government began going after foes tied to a failed attempt to stir up a military uprising last week. National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano was leaving his Democratic Action party's headquarters when he was surprised by a commando unit from the feared SEBIN intelligence agency that surrounded his car.

A half hour later, the officers towed the vehicle away with the lawmaker still inside. At the same time, Maduro was speaking live on state TV inaugurating an agricultural project. Neighbors looking on shouted "assassins" as the heavily armed agents pulled away.

"We democrats we will keep fighting!" Zambrano tweeted as he was hauled off.

The arrest was the first following the opposition's fizzled uprising that started early on April 30 outside a Caracas air base. It was led by Juan Guaidó, head of the National Assembly who is leading the U.S.-backed effort to end what he calls Maduro's dictatorship.
• None Venezuelans suffer and starve as political crisis drags on

Zambrano, 63, was one of the first opposition leaders to answer Guaido's call for an insurrection, going to the bridge in Caracas where the opposition leader had appeared at dawn with a small cadre of soldiers ready to rebel against Maduro.

On the highway overpass, Zambrano embraced popular opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who broke house arrest to take part. Zambrano also thanked the handful of rebel National Guardsmen, who wore blue armbands as symbols of their allegiance to Guaidó's movement.

A lawyer by training, Zambrano is seen as a conciliatory figure within the opposition who is close to Henry Ramos, the former head of congress who has been accused of taking part in an earlier alleged conspiracy to oust Maduro. He took up his role as Guaido's deputy as part of a power-sharing arrangement among the biggest parties.

Government officials had announced that Zambrano and eight other opposition lawmakers faced investigation on charges of "betraying the homeland" and "instigating an insurrection," for their roles in last week's unrest.

Two hours before his arrest, Zambrano had told The Associated Press in a phone interview that he was not going to hide because "I have not committed any crime."

Government supporters have been pushing Maduro to order arrests in the aftermath of the failed uprising, which is the closest the opposition has ever come to ousting the president. But analysts say there are limits to how far Maduro can crack down, and that any attempt to arrest Guaidó risks inviting a strong response from the U.S., which has warned of "grave consequences" should the opposition leader be harmed.

Earlier Wednesday, Maduro and the head of Venezuela's top court rejected a U.S. threat to apply sanctions to all its judges. They accused the Trump administration of trying to manipulate the crisis-wracked nation's justice system and foment a coup.

Maikel Moreno, president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, pushed back at comments by Vice President Mike Pence, who said the U.S. would extend sanctions to all members of the Venezuelan high court if they continued to be a "political tool" of Maduro.

"This unlawful, despicable and intolerable action violates the norms and principles of international law that govern relations between civilized nations," Moreno, a political ally of the Maduro, said in a nationally broadcast TV appearance. Moreno already faces U.S. sanctions.

There is little sign that tension will break between Maduro and Guaidó, who is backed by the United States and more than 50 other nations.

Guaidó on Wednesday took to the streets of at least two coastal communities outside the capital, pushing to keep up the opposition's rejuvenated momentum. He met with supporters in his hometown of La Guaira and surrounding communities, where he was greeted by cheers, hugs and fist bumps.

More than 3 million Venezuelans have left their homeland in recent years amid skyrocketing inflation and severe shortages of food and medicine. Pence and other Trump administration officials blame Maduro's socialist policies and government mismanagement for Venezuela's economic crunch, warning that 2 million more people are expected to flee by the end of the year if the crisis continues.

The U.S. lifted sanctions on a top Venezuelan general who broke ranks with Maduro last week. Pence said the immediate lifting of financial sanctions for Gen. Manuel Figuera, who was Venezuela's spy chief, is intended to encourage others in the military to abandon their support for Maduro.

Figuera was the sole regime insider to defy Maduro during the uprising, although the White House contends several others, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, had been in talks for weeks with the opposition to oust Maduro but backed away from the plan at the last minute.

On Wednesday, Maduro discharged Figuera from service along with 55 other soldiers accused of taking part in Guaido's uprising.

Among them was National Guard Lt. Col. Illich Sanchez, who oversaw protection to the opposition-controlled National Assembly and accompanied Guaidó during the uprising last week.

Maduro has fallen under increasing international pressure since winning a second six-year term in an election last May that critics say was rigged. Russia, China and Cuba, among other countries, support Maduro.

Maduro says he is the target of a U.S.-engineered coup plot. He harshly criticized the Trump administration in his speech Wednesday, saying its offer to lift sanctions against members of the armed forces who turn against his government is an "assault on their honor and dignity."

"Donald Trump is racist and surrounded by crazies," Maduro said. </s> Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who are unhappy with the slow pace of a recall petition will demonstrate Thursday in the capital Caracas in what organizers hope will be a massive show of support for political change.

Arrests of several opposition figures have been reported as Maduro tries to discourage turnout for the event that protest leaders have dubbed the “Conquest of Caracas.” Even as Maduro has threatened crack down on marchers, organizers said they expected hundreds of thousands of people from across the country

The protesters blame Maduro for triple digit inflation, scarcity of basic food items and medicine and rising violent crime. Maduro, who was elected to a six-year term in April 2013, has tried to portray his foes as coup proponents.

Among the opposition leaders reportedly detained this week is Yon Goicochea, the high-profile student activist who heads the Popular Will opposition political party. He was arrested Monday in the Prados del Este section of Caracas and has since been held incommunicado, his wife told reporters.

“I denounce the Popular Will party as the party of violence and coups,” Maduro said Tuesday during a public event in downtown Caracas. No matter if they “whine, cry or scream, they will be arrested.”

Jesus Torrealba, a director of the Unity Table coalition of anti-Maduro parties pushing the recall measure, said the march will be peaceful and remain far from the Miraflores presidential palace.

“When we go to Miraflores, it will be to stay, with the votes of the people,” Torrealba told a television interviewer on Tuesday.

Shortly after opposition parties took control of the National Assembly in January, leaders launched a presidential recall campaign that gathered 1.8 million signatures, which were submitted to the electoral commission in March. But Maduro controls the commission, which has moved slowly.

Although it confirmed that enough signatures were collected to validate the process, the commission has set no firm timeline for the process. Opposition officials are concerned that the recall effort may be dismissed for not passing various milestones before certain deadlines.

The march is expected to be the biggest in turnout since February 2014, when nationwide protests turned violent and left 45 dead and hundreds injured.

Daniel Ceballos, the former mayor of San Cristobal in western Tachira state who was serving a sentence of house arrest for inciting violence in the aftermath of those protests, was reportedly taken from his home Saturday and moved to a prison in Guarico state.

Also reported detained was Carlos Melo, a board member of the Advanced Progressive party. Lara state Gov. Henri Falcon, a Maduro opponent, said that “comrade” Melo is being held in police intelligence headquarters in Caracas.

Nestor Reverol, the minister of interior, justice and peace, said on Wednesday that Ceballos was arrested because he was planning to flee the country and that Melo and Goicochea were implicated in the plan. None of the accused has been allowed to speak publicly since their arrests.

“Now we will show a firm hand, with the constitution on our side,” Maduro said Tuesday.

Henrique Capriles, a former presidential candidate who lost to Maduro in 2013 and is now Miranda state governor, described the arrests as “desperation” moves by the government.

“They can arrest all the political leaders, but that won’t stop people from taking to the streets on Sept. 1,” he said. “They can’t avoid the fact that we Venezuelans continue to seek respect for the constitution and that there be a recall vote.”

After National Assembly President Henry Ramos Allup said the opposition would launch drones to fly over the march to record possible abuses of protesters by the government, Maduro declared the use of drones to be illegal through Sept. 6.

Special correspondents Mogollon and Kraul reported from Caracas and Bogota respectively. </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> Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been granted house arrest after more than three years in jail, opposition legislator Henry Ramos said via Twitter on Saturday.

CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been granted house arrest after more than three years in jail, opposition legislator Henry Ramos said via Twitter on Saturday.

Lopez's family and leaders of his political party Popular Will were not immediately available to comment. </s> Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó's deputy has been detained by the country's intelligence services.

Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the National Assembly, refused to leave his car when approached, and as a result he and his car were towed to prison.

It is the first arrest of an opposition figure since attempts to spark a military rebellion against President Nicolás Maduro last week.

Mr Guaidó is recognised as "interim president" by more than 50 nations.

Democratic Action party leader Carlos Prosperi told reporters that he had been at a party meeting with Mr Zambrano in the capital Caracas moments before he was arrested by agents from Venezuela's Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin).

"The vehicle was surrounded," he said. "They [Sebin agents] wouldn't allow us to get to him. They brought a tow truck and his vehicle was towed away."

He added that they believe he was taken to El Helicoide, a notorious prison in the centre of the city.

"We don't know anything about what physical condition he's in and we don't know what is happening at El Helicoide at the moment," Mr Prosperi said.

Mr Guaidó also tweeted about the arrest, calling Mr Zambrano's arrest - in particular, the towing of his car - "absurd".

The arrest comes one day after Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered that Mr Zambrano and six other National Assembly deputies be charged with treason for their alleged participation in the failed military uprising.

"One of the principal conspirators of the coup has just been arrested," Diosdado Cabello, head of the pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly, told state TV. "They will have to pay before the courts for the failed coup that they have attempted."

What has happened since last week's clashes?

On 1 May, both pro and anti-government supporters held demonstrations in Caracas which were initially peaceful.

But there were soon reports of gunfire in the city, and a local NGO, the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, said Jurubith Rausseo, 27, had been shot dead during a rally in the opposition stronghold of Altamira.

On Tuesday, Mr Guaidó declared what he called the "final phase" of the operation to topple Mr Maduro. He posted a video of him with a number of men in uniform and said he had the support of "brave soldiers" in Caracas.

He urged Venezuelans to join them on the streets, and appeared alongside another opposition leader, Leopoldo López, who had been under house arrest after being found guilty of inciting violence during protests in 2014.

Four people died in the clashes, including two teenagers, and another 46 people were injured.

Mr Guaidó declared himself Venezuela's interim leader in January. As the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, he invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Mr Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate.

The opposition leader, who is president of the National Assembly, has the support of more than 50 countries, including the US, UK and most Latin American nations.

On Sunday, he told the BBC that he would consider asking the US to stage a military intervention.

But Mr Maduro - who is backed by Russia, China and the leaders of Venezuela's military - has refused to cede power. </s> Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez reaches out to greet supporters as he arrives to the prosecutor's office in 2013.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — After more than three years in jail, Venezuela’s most prominent jailed opposition leader was granted house arrest on Saturday in the midst of intensifying political violence in the country.

The Supreme Court cited health concerns and administrative irregularities in its decision to allow Leopoldo López to serve out the rest of his sentence of 13 years and nine months from home, which it called a “humanitarian measure.”

"To give Leopoldo López house arrest indicates how desperate and divided they are, a show of weakness from a cornered regime," wrote Javier Cremades, López's lawyer, on Twitter.

Venezuela's protracted political crisis, pitting the embattled socialist government against an increasingly unified opposition bloc, has deepened in recent months, during which nearly 100 people have been killed at the site of regular protests. This week, pro-government demonstrators stormed the opposition-controlled Congress, injuring five lawmakers and several reporters.

The oil-rich country is on edge as a vote to determine the members of a citizens assembly to rewrite the constitution is expected on July 30. The opposition, which say President Nicolás Maduro's initiative is rigged in favor of the state, is planning to hold a referendum against it on July 16.

"What we cannot do with votes we would have to do with weapons," Maduro warned during a televised appearance last month.

Fractures within the government have been growing in recent months. Attorney General Luisa Ortega has urged Venezuelans to reject the rewrite; according to Reuters, at least 123 soldiers have been detained since April on charges of treason and rebellion, among others.

Shortages of medicines and basic food staples, triple-digit-inflation, and a homicide crisis have battered the South American nation. Countries around the region have put in a concerted effort to pressure Venezuela's government to restore democracy.

López has become a rallying crying for the opposition, which has demanded the release of all political prisoners. The photogenic 46-year-old is convicted of inciting violence during the 2014 street protests in Venezuela, in which 43 people were killed.

Maduro frequently refers to López as the "Monster of Ramo Verde," using the name of the military jail where he was held.

Lilian Tintori, López's wife, has met with leaders around the world, asking them for to support his release. In February, she met with President Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio at the White House.

In June, Tintori said López would not accept serving out his sentence at home until the last of the political prisoners were released from jail.

There are 433 political prisoners in the country, according to Foro Penal Venezolano, a human rights group.
Venezuelan officials arrest several opposition activists, including Popular Will Party leaders, just days before Thursday's scheduled national protest against the rule of President Nicolás Maduro.