Venezuela’s opposition leader Machado has been arrested, local media said, citing opposition activists By Reuters
Written by Vivian Sequera and Mircely Guanipa
CARACAS/MARACAY (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been arrested, VPI TV said on Thursday, citing opposition activist Magalli Meda.
Machado was “violently blocked” from the march, his first public appearance in months, the opposition said on social media on Thursday.
Opposition groups protested across the country in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, one day before he was sworn in for his third six-year term.
Machado was “violently stopped when he was leaving the march in Chacao. In a few minutes we expect to confirm his condition. State lawyers shot the motorbikes he was transported on,” said the opposition group to X.
The opposition parties and the ruling party are in the running for last year’s elections, which they both claimed to have won.
The country’s electoral authorities and the supreme court say Maduro, whose tenure has been marked by a major economic and social crisis, won the July vote, although he has not published detailed figures.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said it will arrest opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez if he returns to the country and has arrested prominent opposition members and activists as the inauguration approaches.
