The mayor of Maracaibo, the second largest city in Venezuela, the opposition Rafael Ramírez, was detained by intelligence agents on Tuesday night, opposition sources reported.
“They arrested Mayor Rafael Ramírez and they have not mentioned the charges,” said the former councilor of Maracaibo, Ángel Monagas, during a live broadcast on the social network X.
Two other sources confirmed Ramírez’s arrest to AFP without offering details.
Spokesmen for his Primero Justicia (PJ) party have not commented, nor have the authorities.
According to Monagas, exiled in the United States, Ramírez was detained by agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) along with his security chief.
“With the arrest of Rafael Ramírez, a dangerous chapter opens for other mayors, there are other mayors who are in the crosshairs,” Monagas remarked.
Ramírez, 49, began his term as mayor in 2021, after the opposition defeated Chavismo in Zulia, a state whose capital is Maracaibo.
Nearly 200 opposition leaders, including members of the campaign team of opposition leader María Corina Machado and former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, have been arrested so far in 2024.
Zulia has the largest electoral roll in the country and is a traditional opposition stronghold. President Nicolás Maduro himself has attacked the governor of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, for his support of González Urrutia.
The arrests have continued after Maduro’s disputed re-election, amid allegations of fraud by the opposition that led to protests with 27 dead, some 200 injured and more than 2,400 detained.
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