Venezuelan opposition leader arrested after anti-government protest
9 January 2025, 20:04
Ms Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier on Thursday.
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been arrested after her convoy was intercepted by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.
Ms Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier on Thursday and reappeared in public as part of a last-ditch attempt to block President Nicolas Maduro from clinging to power.
Ms Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces fired on the motorcycle convoy as it was leaving eastern Caracas where Ms Machado moments earlier had spoken to a crowd of supporters.
There were no immediate details on her whereabouts and Mr Maduro’s government has yet to comment.
The protests were taking place a day before the ruling party-controlled National Assembly is scheduled to swear in Mr Maduro to a third six-year term, despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election.
