CARACAS, Venezuela _ Venezuelan authorities seized opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma at their Caracas homes early Tuesday, perhaps signaling a tougher stance toward opponents of President Nicolas Maduro in the aftermath of his controversial ballot measure to draft a new constitution.
"We don't know where he is or where he will be taken. Maduro is responsible if anything happens," Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, said over social media early Tuesday. Lopez's attorney Juan Carlos Gutierrez said later in a radio interview Tuesday that his client had been taken to the Ramo Verde military prison.
Leader of the Voluntad Popular opposition party and former Caracas borough mayor, Lopez was sentenced in 2015 to 13 years in prison on an incitement-to-violence charge related to 2014 protests that left 43 dead. Lopez, 46, denied the charges, saying his arrest was politically motivated.
The leader's imprisonment became an international cause celebre with many human rights organizations demanding his release. Lopez was granted house arrest July 8 after spending more than three years in jail. His release had been negotiated by former Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
The release was seen as a gesture by the government to ease tensions amid widespread protests that since late March have left 120 dead and thousands injured. Police and national guard have arrested more than 5,000 in clashes that have engulfed much of the nation.
Ledezma, the 62-year-old former mayor of metropolitan Caracas, was charged in February 2015 with plotting to overthrow Maduro's government, which he denied. Ledezma had been allowed to serve his term at home since April 2015 for health reasons.
The supreme court issued a statement Tuesday saying both were retaken in custody by Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, or SEBIN, officers for "noncompliance" of terms of their house arrests. Ledezma's family released video showing Ledezma still dressed in pajamas being hustled out of his apartment and into his building's elevator.
"SEBIN took my father Antonio Ledezma prisoner for speaking the truth to the government," the mayor's son Victor said in a social media message.
Ledezma appeared in a video Monday to react to the constitutional assembly vote, saying: "It's important that we say that Venezuela will not give up."
The actions came after Venezuelan voters went to the polls Sunday to elect members of a new constitutional assembly. The assembly and the new charter they will draft are opposed by a majority of Venezuelans and have been condemned by the U.S. and other nations as a prelude to a dictatorship.
In a celebratory speech late Sunday, Maduro warned he would take harsh measures against opposition leaders and some news media, including jail terms.
On Monday, the Trump administration sanctioned Maduro, freezing his assets in the U.S. And at a White House news conference, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Maduro is "now a dictator."
Venezuelans have been protesting across the country since late March when the Maduro-controlled supreme court issued a ruling removing legislative powers from the opposition-majority National Assembly and transferring them to Maduro's discretion. Although the ruling was partially rescinded, violent clashes have continued.
