The United States and Latin American nations voiced concerns over political tensions in Venezuela after the socialist government arrested the opposition mayor of Caracas in an alleged coup plot. Almost exactly one year after opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez was arrested as he led a wave of protests against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, intelligence agents burst into Mayor Antonio Ledezma’s office late Thursday and hauled him to jail. A third radical critic of the government, ousted lawmaker Maria Machado, is under investigation over an alleged plan to assassinate Maduro, though she remains free. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles called on the government to produce evidence of the supposed conspiracy.
