Since Hugo Chavez died two years ago, Venezuela's economy has tanked and the government has lurched toward more repressive tactics, triggering nostalgia among the late leftist firebrand's supporters and even his opponents.

Chavez's hand-picked successor, President Nicolas Maduro, has largely followed his mentor's script for "21st-century socialism," right down to the hours-long diatribes against "American imperialism" and the tracksuits in the colors of the Venezuelan flag.

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles says he fears President Nicolas Maduro's crisis-hit government, fearing a humiliating loss, will cancel key legislative elections later this year.

With Venezuela's economy in recession, its oil revenues plunging and consumers facing chronic shortages of basic goods, Maduro's approval rating has sunk to a low of around 20 percent -- the worst crisis yet for the political movement founded by his late mentor, leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez.

President Nicolas Maduro plans to limit the U.S. diplomatic presence in Venezuela and require American tourists to obtain visas, in a sign of growing tensions between the two countries.

The leftist president said the measures, announced Saturday, aimed to "control" U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said Thursday he fears left-wing military officers in Venezuela will stage a coup against President Nicolas Maduro, whose government is under fire for an opposition crack-down.

"The problem Venezuela could have is that we could face a coup by left-wing military officers, and if that happens the defense of democracy goes to hell," said Mujica in an interview with Uruguayan newspaper El Pais.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday blasted the Venezuelan government's "egregious behavior" and promised the speedy implementation of recent sanctions against the crisis-hit country.

Speaking at a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Kerry said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime had made a series of "wrong choices" in its handling of anti-government protests, as well as its clampdown on opposition leaders over claims of a U.S.-backed coup plot.

The mayor of Caracas, who was detained and charged with plotting to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, will appeal the "baseless" allegations, his lawyer said Saturday.

Antonio Ledezma's arrest is part of a growing crackdown on high-profile opponents of the socialist president as OPEC member Venezuela struggles with a deepening economic crisis.

Caracas mayor and opposition politician Antonio Ledezma remained in custody Saturday 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.

Venezuelan prosecutors planned Friday to charge the capital's mayor with a violent plot against the socialist government, one day after intelligence agents stormed his office and hauled him to jail.

Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma will be booked for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy "to organize and carry out violent acts against the government," the attorney general's office said in a statement.

The United States Friday voiced concern at the growing "intimidation" of the Venezuelan opposition, a day after the arrest of the Caracas mayor.

"We are deeply concerned by the escalation of intimidation against the opposition by the government of Venezuela," top U.S. diplomat for Latin America Roberta Jacobson wrote in a series of Spanish tweets on her Twitter account.

Masked intelligence service agents arrested the mayor of Caracas on Thursday over what socialist President Nicolas Maduro alleges was a coup plot financed by the United States and directed "from Washington."

The United States immediately dismissed the claims as "baseless and false" and said it was an attempt to blame Washington or other countries for the problems of Venezuela, which is facing economic collapse -- culminating in critical shortages of basic goods -- and rocketing crime.