AKIPRESS.COM - The international community condemned the detention of two political opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday, with the White House saying it holds Maduro personally responsible for their safety, CNN reports.

"The United States condemns the actions of the Maduro dictatorship" in taking Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma from their homes, US President Donald Trump said in a statement. "The United States holds Maduro ... personally responsible for the health and safety of Mr. Lopez, Mr. Ledezma, and any others seized."

Both men had been under house arrest for prior convictions. The house arrests were revoked, the Venezuelan Supreme Court said, because intelligence officials claimed they were planning to flee in the aftermath of Sunday's controversial elections.

The head of the Organization of American States also blasted Maduro's recent actions, saying he was trying to "silence and subdue an entire people."

OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro called for new parliamentary elections and accused Maduro's government of killings and repression.

"For the corrupt, the murderers and the torturers, the international community must reply with the greatest severity," he said in a news release.

The detentions come after Venezuelans elected members of a new legislative body in a Sunday vote called for by Maduro and boycotted by the opposition. Virtually all of the new body's members are supporters of the leftist leader.

Critics in Venezuela and outside the restive nation have called the vote a sham.

Some nations have slapped new sanctions on Venezuela or some of its citizens.