Venezuela’s opposition says its leader María Corina Machado was briefly arrested and then freed after addressing a protest rally on the eve of President Nicolás Maduro’s disputed inauguration.
González fled Venezuela in September and has been living in Spain, but this month he went on a tour of the Americas to rally international support.
Machado, whom González replaced on the ballot after she was barred from running herself, has also been targeted.
In Panama, González deposited thousands of voting tallies which the opposition collected in the country’s bank for safekeeping.
The tallies have been the key evidence offered by the opposition to show that González, not Maduro won the election.
On the eve of President Nicolás Maduro’s contentious inauguration, Venezuela’s opposition claims that its leader, María Corina Machado, was briefly detained before being released after speaking at a protest rally.
According to the opposition, Machado, 57, was “violently intercepted” in eastern Caracas, and the motorcycle convoy she was riding in was shot at. She was also arrested and made to record multiple videos.
Machado’s detention was a “media distraction,” according to Venezuela’s information minister Freddy Nanez.
Although Maduro, 62, was proclaimed the victor of the July presidential election, the opposition and numerous nations, including the United States, denounce the outcome as rigged and acknowledge the now-exiled opposition candidate, Edmundo González, as the legitimate winner.
González left Venezuela in September and has been residing in Spain, but he traveled throughout the Americas this month to mobilize support from other countries.
He is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Maduro regime, which is also offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to his capture.
It has also been directed at Machado, whom González put on the ballot after she was disqualified from running herself. She disappeared shortly after the contentious elections and wasn’t seen in public until August, just before Thursday’s rally.
The United Nations voiced its alarm earlier in the day after learning of arbitrary detentions and intimidation in Venezuela prior to the opposition marches.
Thousands of police have been sent by Maduro’s government to Caracas, where the National Assembly, which is affiliated with the government, is scheduled to swear Maduro in for a third term.
In an attempt to block the ceremony, the opposition, for its part, called on its supporters to show up in large numbers.
According to Reuters, police in Valencia used tear gas on demonstrators.
Niegalos Payares, 70, admitted to the news agency that “I’m not afraid, I lost my fear a long time ago” while in western Caracas.
In the central Venezuelan city of Maracay, Roisa Gómez told a Reuters reporter that she was “fighting for my vote, which I cast for Edmundo González.”. They are unable to rig the election. “,”.
To date, the government-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) has not produced comprehensive voting data to support its declaration that Maduro won the presidential election.
US President Joe Biden told González that Venezuela deserved a “peaceful transfer of power” during their meeting earlier this month in Washington.
Thousands of voting tallies gathered by the opposition were placed in Panama’s bank for safekeeping by González.
The opposition’s primary argument that González, not Maduro, won the election was supported by the tallies.
Eighty-five percent of the tallies were gathered and posted online with the assistance of official election observers.
According to media outlets and independent observers who examined them, González defeated Maduro handily.
