CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top court has sentenced the mayor of the city of San Cristobal to a year in jail for failing to break up anti-government protests, extending a crackdown of opposition leaders associated with nearly two months of demonstrations.
The Supreme Court ruling issued late on Tuesday determined that Daniel Ceballos disobeyed an earlier court order that his administration remove barricades set up by protesters demanding the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro.
Demonstrators since early February have routinely used debris and burning trash to block the streets of San Cristobal, a city in the western Andes region near Colombia.
The protests began there early in the year with sporadic student demonstrations and it remains the city most affected by the unrest.
Ceballos, who has condemned violence but openly supported the protests, was also stripped of his post.
Opposition leaders say the recent actions are evidence that the country is sliding into a dictatorship that muzzles dissent and arbitrarily jails elected officials.
Maduro’s supporters say the measures are meant to restore public order in the face of demonstrations that have left dozens dead and limited free transit as part of efforts to destabilize the government.
