Venezuelan Opposition Leader Detained, Freed

María Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition to president Nicolás Maduro, was arrested and briefly detained Thursday by government security forces after leaving a demonstration in the capital of Caracas.

Machado, who has been in hiding for months to evade capture by the government, showed herself in public again Thursday to rally the opposition before the inauguration of Maduro on Friday, January 10. The Venezuelan opposition contends, based on receipts from voting machines obtained by poll watchers at 85 percent of polling locations, that Maduro lost the election to opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. González, a former ambassador, was tapped by Machado to run for president after she was disqualified by a Venezuelan court from running herself shortly before the election.

After publicizing her attendance at a protest in the capital, Machado attempted to leave the demonstration in a group of motorcycles. She was almost immediately confronted by government forces, who opened fire on the convoy, wounding one of her bodyguards. Machado was then detained and obliged to record a number of short videos, but has since been freed.

Machado and the remainder of the opposition leadership have been attempting to mount a campaign of civil disobedience to force the Maduro government to recognize the election of González, who fled the country for Spain in 2023 but who has announced his intention to return to the country and be sworn in Friday as president of Venezuela. González, who was in the Dominican Republic when Machado was arrested, has been on a regional tour attempting to obtain support from abroad. The tour included a visit to president Joe Biden at the White House.

Maduro is expected to be sworn in Friday. No foreign leaders will be in attendance.