CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Caracas, Venezuela, Mayor Antonio Ledezma, an opposition leader, was arrested Thursday by intelligence police for allegedly "conspiring against the peace and stability of the nation."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed Ledezma's detention at the country's intelligence service headquarters in Caracas.
Ledezma's wife, Mitzy, said she was present when her husband was arrested and officers struck both of them during the confrontation.
"They arrested him savagely. They hit him," she said on Venezuelan social media platform Vivo Play.
The arrest happened one day after the one-year anniversary of the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez, who was also an opposition leader. Lopez was arrested in the midst of violent anti-government protests. He organized protests calling for better security, an end to food shortages and enhanced freedom of speech for citizens.
Those protests resulted in the deaths of 43 people.
Protests have flared again this month as opposition groups seeks to commemorate the anniversary of demonstrations against Madura.
"It's clear that the government is no longer tolerating anything that could generate a situation of protests like last year," Dimitris Pantoulas, an independent political analyst told Bloomberg.
