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In Venezuela, authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro is moving to crush all dissent. His crackdown comes in the wake of the summer's presidential election, which Maduro is accused of stealing. More than 2,000 people have been rounded up. And as John Otis reports, the prisoners include several opposition mayors.
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RAFAEL RAMIREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: That's Rafael Ramirez, the mayor of Maracaibo, which is Venezuela's second-largest city. In a country dominated by Maduro's Socialist Party, Maracaibo is one of just a few dozen towns and cities run by the opposition. Located in western Venezuela on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, the city has been hollowed out by the country's long-running economic crisis that's prompted a quarter of its 2.2 million residents to migrate.
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RAMIREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Still, Ramirez won praise for paving the streets, collecting trash and improving security, says this university professor, who's lived in Maracaibo all his life. He requests anonymity because he fears retaliation from the Maduro regime.
UNIDENTIFIED PROFESSOR: It's the most successful government - local government since - I don't know - a decade ago. The change has been dramatic.
OTIS: But Ramirez became a target of the Maduro regime after publicly supporting opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in the July presidential election. Voter tally sheets showed that Gonzalez won by a landslide, yet Maduro claimed victory. That sparked anti-government protests all across Venezuela. The Maduro regime responded with mass arrests. Gonzalez managed to flee the country for exile in Spain. But among those detained were five opposition mayors, including Ramirez.
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DIOSDADO CABELLO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Speaking on state TV, interior minister Diosdado Cabello accused Ramirez of corruption. But the regime has denied Ramirez access to a lawyer, and he's yet to see any of the evidence being used against him.
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VANESSA LINARES: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: At a news conference in Maracaibo, Ramirez's wife, Vanessa Linares, called the corruption charges bogus. Instead, she said, this is about destroying an up-and-coming political leader who enjoys widespread support.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in Spanish).
OTIS: After she spoke, allies of the mayor broke into chants demanding his freedom.
PHIL GUNSON: Right now it's a very sensitive situation.
OTIS: That's Phil Gunson, who's based in Caracas for the International Crisis Group. He says Maduro was severely weakened by his blowout loss in the election and that his regime is now lashing out at opponents like a wounded animal.
GUNSON: To challenge the government in any way, to say that Maduro didn't win the election, to express public dissent is much more dangerous now, much more difficult than I think it ever has been in the course of the 25 years that they've been in power.
OTIS: Along with Mayor Ramirez, authorities detained three of his top aides while a fourth fled the country. All this has left Maracaibo in limbo, says the university professor.
UNIDENTIFIED PROFESSOR: Now no one feels protected from the possibility of losing their freedom just for having political ideas that descend from the guys who rule in the country.
OTIS: If Ramirez remains in jail, he'll have to be replaced through a special election next month. But in the wake of the stolen presidential election, it's unclear whether many Maracaibo residents will bother voting. For NPR News, I'm John Otis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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