Edgar Zambrano is first politician to be arrested since failed uprising against Nicolás Maduro last week

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Venezuelan intelligence agents have detained the vice-president of the opposition-run national assembly in Caracas as a crackdown against politicians involved in last week’s failed uprising against Nicolás Maduro intensified.

Edgar Zambrano was towed in his car to the notorious political prison El Helicoide after he refused to leave his vehicle when he was approached by agents from the Sebin intelligence agency. It was the first arrest of an opposition figure since the botched revolt.

“The dictatorship has kidnapped [Zambrano],” the opposition leader Juan Guaidó tweeted, attacking what he called political persecution typical of authoritarian regimes.

The plot that failed: how Venezuela's 'uprising' fizzled Read more

Zambrano was on the scene on Tuesday last week when Guaidó tried unsuccessfully to spark a pre-dawn mutiny against Maduro outside an airforce base in the Venezuelan capital.

“Edgar Zambrano has been detained. He was one of the main [leaders] of the coup,” said Diosdado Cabello, Maduro’s second-in-command, on his weekly television show, to loud applause from the studio audience.

Opposition leaders and members of the international community condemned what was the harshest move yet in Maduro’s counterattack against those who tried to topple him. “This isn’t a detention … it is a crime,” tweeted Ibéyise Pacheco, a prominent Venezuelan journalist.

The US state department said Zambrano’s detention was “illegal and inexcusable” and warned of “consequences” if he was not freed immediately.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Edgar Zambrano, left, with Juan Guaidó. Photograph: Fernando Llano/AP

Maduro’s administration has targeted a number of Guaidó-supporting opposition politicians in recent days by for their participation in last week’s botched uprising.

Venezuela’s pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly agreed on Tuesday to strip Zambrano and six other politicians of their parliamentary immunity to allow their future prosecution. The opposition does not recognise the assembly’s decisions.

The supreme court had earlier accused those politicians of conspiracy, rebellion and treason, and it accused another three opposition legislators of the same crimes on Wednesday.

One opposition figure, Marianela Magallanes, has reportedly sought shelter in the residence of the Italian ambassador to Caracas. Guaidó’s political mentor, Leopoldo López, took refuge in the home of the Spanish ambassador shortly after the abortive revolt.

But Maduro has yet to move against Guaidó himself – a fact many attribute to fears that doing so might trigger a strong reaction from Guaidó’s backers in the White House.

Pedro Carreño, a top member of Maduro’s Socialist party, told the Guardian that Venezuela’s opposition should abandon its campaign to unseat his leader – or face the consequences. “If they continue down the path of coup-mongering they will end up in jail,” Carreño vowed. “The long arm of justice … will arrive.”

Guaidó insisted his movement would not be cowed and that Maduro’s time in power was running out. “The dictatorship will not mask its internal split with these measures, nor will it stop the inevitable.”

Additional reporting by Patricia Torres in Caracas