Venezuelan mayor's arrest casts light on unlikely marriage

She was raised by a leader of Venezuela's opposition and made a name for herself on a popular anti-government TV show. He is the tourism minister and one of the socialist administration's most passionate defenders. In this deeply polarized nation, where bitter politics often intrude into the most personal of arenas, the marriage of Isabel Gonzalez and Andres Izarra is as improbable as Romeo and Juliet. And the pressure on them perhaps has never been stronger following the arrest of Gonzalez's stepfather, Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma. One of the most hardline critics of President Nicolas Maduro, Ledezma was hauled away by police for allegedly plotting a coup with the U.S. The opposition calls the charge baseless, saying it is an attempt by Maduro to stamp out dissent and distract attention from an economy unraveling as quickly as is support for the revolution started 16 years ago by the late Hugo Chavez. More…