Venezuelan opposition leader, Daniel Ceballos, hauled off to prison before dawn in new crackdown

A prominent opposition figure in Venezuela has been randomly picked up from his house by security agents of the government and transferred to a prison, family members allege.

The unannounced taking into custody of Daniel Ceballos, a former mayor of the western city of San Cristobal, is being seen by human rights observers as well as the opposition movement in Venezuela as further evidence of the regime of President Nicolas Maduro battening down its hatches as popular dissatisfaction with an economy in virtual shambles continues to swell.

Mr Ceballos, 32, was catapulted to notoriety during the widespread anti-government protests of 2014. While much of the street unrest happened in Caracas, the capital of the country, his own city also become a focus of the dissent.

Security agents showed up Mr Ceballos’ home at 3am on Saturday and told his wife, Patricia Ceballos, that he was being taken away for a medical exam. They put him in a waiting ambulance, which instead delivered the politician to the same prison in central Guarico where he had been detained until his release a year ago. He had been under house arrest since then.

“This is how my daughter Victoria said goodbye to her father,” Ms Gutierrez said on Twitter. “The dictatorship isn't going to destroy my family. Freedom will come soon.” She also used Twitter to release video of the moments when the security agents were at their home.

International opprobrium of the seizure of Mr Ceballos came quickly on Saturday. “Authorities in Venezuela seem to be willing to stop at nothing in their quest to prevent anyone from criticizing them, particularly as the political and humanitarian situation in the country continues to deteriorate,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at the rights group Amnesty International.

Tensions are again escalating in Venezuela ahead of fresh protests planned for next Thursday against efforts by the government to thwart or at least stall a vast popular effort to force a recall vote on President Maduro, the former bus driver who was anointed by former President Hugo Chavez before his death from cancer in 2013. Mr Maduro narrowly won the elections soon thereafter and vowed to continue Mr Chavez’s socialist revolution in Venezuela.

However the last two years have seen a shocking collapse of the country’s economy, caused by a combination of government mismanagement and the fall in the price of oil.

The opposition, which seized control of the national congress in elections last year, wants a recall election to happen before the end of this year. If Mr Maduro were to lose, which seems likely, new presidential elections would have to follow. However, if the recall vote is pushed into next year, Mr Maduro’s deputy would step in and serve out the rest of his term.

Mr Ceballos was among a number of political leaders who encouraged the protests of 2014 and were punished with prison time. Among his peers, the best known is Leopoldo Lopez, who remains behind bars in spite of international pressure on Venezuela to release him.

Mr Lopez’s wife, Lilian Tintori, has maintained round-the-clock pressure on the government to release him.