Caracas – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, was due to be sworn in for a third term on Friday despite a global uprising that brought thousands out in protest. on the night of the ceremony. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who came out of hiding to lead a demonstration in Caracas on Thursday, was detained shortly after the rally according to her team, reigniting international criticism of Maduro's vote-stealing and critics.
The government denied the arrest of Machado, but Maduro was a vocal critic detained by security forces who arrested her convoy after an anti-government rally in Caracas, her team said. Witnesses reported that shots were fired as her motorcycle was driven off the road and she was forcibly removed.
Trump, other world leaders react to Machado's arrest
In a social media post, President-elect Donald Trump singled out Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia – the man who took his place on the ballot and is widely believed to have beaten Maduro in elections on July 28 – as “freedom fighters.”
“They should not be hurt, and they MUST stay safe and alive,” he wrote on his Truth social network.
During his first term in office, Trump tightened punitive measures against the Maduro government for anti-democratic actions. The sanctions were partially lifted, then withdrawn, by his successor, President Biden, and are likely to be tightened during Trump's next term, which begins in only 10 days.
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Ecuador denounced what it called Maduro's “dictatorship”, while Spain expressed “total condemnation” of Machado's detention, albeit for a short time.
Colombia, whose leftist President Gustavo Petro is historically an ally of Maduro, condemned the “systematic harassment” of Machado, 57.
Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced “another unacceptable act of repression” in Venezuela, without mentioning Machado in particular.
“The news coming from Venezuela represents another disgraceful act by the Maduro regime, whose electoral victory we do not recognize,” Meloni said in a statement. “We intend to continue working for a democratic and peaceful transition. The legitimate aspirations of the Venezuelan people for freedom and democracy must finally be realized.”
Calling it “an international conspiracy to disturb the peace of Venezuelans,” Freddy Bernal, the governor of the border state of Tachira, said that the border with Colombia was closed on Friday and will reopen on Monday.
Challenging leader Machado: “We are not afraid”
Machado earlier made a defiant speech to thousands of supporters in central Caracas, sending a message to the government saying: “We are not afraid.”
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A protest in Paris was also attended by Machado's daughter Ana Corina Sosa and dozens of supporters.
Government opponents reported a new wave of repression ahead of Maduro's swearing-in, including the arrest of another opposition presidential candidate, the head of a press freedom NGO, and Gonzalez Urrutia's son-in-law.
The United Nations raised alarm this week over reports of arbitrary detention and intimidation.
More than 2,400 people have been arrested, 28 killed and around 200 injured in protests that have met Maduro's bid for election victory last year. Since then he has maintained a fragile peace through heavy military and police deployments and with the help of paramilitary “colectivos” – armed civilian volunteers charged with suppressing protests through a reign of neighborhood terror.
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Former diplomat Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, had tentative plans to fly to Caracas this week to take power, but the plan is unlikely to go ahead.
“Wanted” posters offering a $100,000 government award because his capture is plastered all over Caracas.
Gonzalez Urrutia has been on an international tour trying to pressure Maduro, 62, to relinquish power. It has included a stop in Washington to meet with Mr. Biden, who called for a “peaceful transition back to democratic governance.” “
Maduro has been in power since 2013, after the the death of leftist firebrand Hugo Chavezhis political adviser. His re-election in 2018 was widely dismissed as fraudulent but he managed to cling to power through a combination of republicanism and repression, even as the economy struggled.
Maduro has the support of Russia and Cuba, as well as a loyal military, judiciary and state institutions in a system of entrenched political support.
Thousands of ruling party loyalists staged a rival demonstration in central Caracas on Thursday, vowing to block any attempt to block Maduro's return to office.
