Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves a national flag during a protest called by the opposition on the eve of the presidential inauguration, in Caracas on January 9, 2025.
Juan Barreto | Afp | Getty Images
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been arrested, internet broadcaster VPI TV said on Thursday, citing opposition staffer Magalli Meda.
Machado was “violently intercepted” leaving a march, her first public appearance in months, the opposition said on social media on Thursday.
The opposition is protesting around the country in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, one day before he is due to be sworn in for his third six-year term.
Machado “was violently intercepted during her exit from the march in Chacao. In minutes we expect to confirm her situation. Agents of the regime shot at the motorcycles on which she was transported,” the opposition said on X.
The opposition and the ruling party are locked in an ongoing dispute over last year’s presidential election, which they both claim to have won.
The country’s electoral authority and top court say Maduro, whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, won the July vote, though they have never published detailed tallies.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, said it will arrest opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez should he return to the country and has detained prominent opposition members and activists in the lead-up to the inauguration.