Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader of Venezuela, was detained after making another public appearance the day before Nicolas Maduro’s third inauguration.
A social media account for Comando Con Venezuela, the political opposition group Machado leads, reported the arrest on Thursday.
The opposition group claimed that government forces “fired” at the motorcycles carrying her as she fled the gathering in Chacao.
It has since announced Machado’s release, dismissing reports that the brief detention was false.
Maduro’s government quickly denounced the incident as an effort to dent the administration’s reputation.
“The tactic of media distraction is not new, so no one should be surprised. Information Minister Freddy Nanez stated on the social media platform Telegram that the reports of Machado’s arrest were “less so coming from fascists who are the architects of deception.”
⚠️⚠️⚠️ María Corina (@MariaCorinaYA) fue violentamente interceptada a su salida de la concentración en Chacao.
Esperamos confirmar en minutos su situación.
Efectivos del régimen dispararon contra las motos que la trasladaban.
Following the contested July 28 presidential election, a government crackdown on dissent has put Machado in hiding in recent months.
In a last-ditch attempt to stop Venezuela’s President Maduro from clinging to power, she made a public appearance on Thursday after urging supporters to protest. On Friday, he will be sworn in for a further six years.
“They wanted us to fight each other, but Venezuela is united”, Machado, waving a Venezuelan flag, shouted to a few hundred protesters from atop a truck before her arrest.
Demonstrators at the rally chanted, “We are not afraid! We are not afraid”! The Venezuelan national anthem was also sung by many people as a show of defiance for Maduro’s administration.
Following the election on July 28 when Maduro was declared the winner without disclosing the usual breakdown of voting results, a series of anti-government protests started.
The opposition criticized the outcome as deceptive, so it instead posted its own voting results online. It says that documentation proves its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, is the rightful winner.
What critics have called heavy-handed repression has been used by the Maduro government to address the outcry. More than 2, 000 people were arrested and an estimated 25 people were killed in the post-election crackdown.
Machado is also accused of being a leader of a plot to overthrow him by Maduro. In September, a court also issued a warrant for Gonzalez’s arrest.
‘ There’s fear ‘
Alessandro Rampietti, a journalist reporting from an anti-Maduro demonstration in neighboring Colombia on Thursday afternoon, claimed Machado defied previous threats and detention attempts.
According to Rampietti, “the government has repeatedly promised that they would arrest her if she attempted to attend one of these protests.” He added that since August, Machado has been hiding out from the Maduro government’s crackdown on opposition figures and demonstrators.
She stated that she anticipated the protest of today to be historic and provide a platform for the world to demonstrate that Venezuela’s majority wants a democratic transition, according to Rampietti.
However, riot police were in full force and there was only a small turnout for the protests on Thursday.
“Of course, there’s fewer people”, Miguel Contrera, an empanada vendor, told The Associated Press as National Guard soldiers carrying riot shields buzzed by on motorcycles. “There’s fear”.
In September, Gonzalez himself eluded the United States to seek political asylum. However, he has since made a second in the Americas, where he has been making road trips to countries like Argentina, Uruguay, and the United States to prove his victory claim.
He has also pledged to return to Venezuela. Maduro’s government , announced a $100, 000 reward for information on Gonzalez’s whereabouts in the lead-up to the inauguration.
On Thursday, Gonzalez lent his voice to the calls for Machado’s freedom.
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