Caracas mayor held over alleged coup plot in Venezuela

Caracas mayor and opposition politician Antonio Ledezma remained in custody TOday following his arrest over what Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro alleges is a coup plot financed by the United States.
The opposition politician, re-elected as mayor in 2013, will be held in Ramo Verde prison, the same jail on the outskirts of the capital currently housing another opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, who was arrested a year ago.
Lopez's detention led to a wave of protests against the socialist president, although Ledezma's arrest has spurred only small, spontaneous rallies following government authorization last month for soldiers to use deadly force on demonstrators.

Masked intelligence service agents burst into Ledezma's office late Thursday and hauled him to jail, over the alleged coup plot.
The United States dismissed the claims as "baseless and false," and has condemned Ledezma's arrest, saying the "systematic intimidation" of opposition figures appears to be a bid by the government to divert attention from the country's political and economic challenges.
As evidence of the supposed coup, Maduro has cited a newspaper advertisement signed by Ledezma, Lopez and government critic Maria Machado entitled "National agreement for the transition."

The article details a number of economic and political proposals.
Machado, an ousted lawmaker, is herself under investigation over an alleged plan to assassinate Maduro, though she remains free.

Maduro, who has frequently made claims of coup plots, has seen his popularity plummet to 20 percent amid a growing shortage of basic goods, long lines outside supermarkets and soaring inflation of almost 70 percent in the recession-hit country.
Prosecutors had "achieved custody for the mayor of Caracas," officials said in a statement.
Two-time presidential candidate and opposition leader Henrique Capriles, however, called on the government to produce evidence of the supposed conspiracy.