Venezuela’s Maduro imprisons opposition leaders a day after election
Caracas — It took a single day for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to make his authoritarian intentions clear. About 24 hours after Maduro announced the formation of an assembly that would shoulder aside democratic institutions, security forces hustled away the highest profile opposition figures from their homes. The crackdown drew international condemnation, shook bond markets and conjured up memories of the continent’s earlier era of repressive and deadly politics. "The imprisonment of two of the most important dissidents of President Maduro’s government is further proof of the lack of respect for individual liberties and the due process of law, essential pillars of a democratic regime," according to a statement from the office of Brazil’s foreign minister, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira. For months, Maduro has been facing not only violent street protests but the possibility of economic punishment by the US, the largest purchaser of its oil. On Monday, the Trump administration punishe...
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