Venezuela’s Opposition Leader, Maria Corina Machado, Is Freed After Being Detained

Venezuela’s popular opposition leader María Corina Machado was briefly detained by opponents on Thursday during an anti-government protest in Caracas. according to a statement to X from a political advisor. But she was soon released.

Ms. Machado was “violently intercepted as she was leaving the meeting,” her party said said on X. “Government troops shot at the motorcycles they were transporting.”

The country’s autocrat, Nicolás Maduro, is set to be sworn in as president for a third term on Friday.

Ms. Machado had been lives in secret in Venezuela under threat of arrest by government officials, and this was their first public appearance since August. She had called for gatherings across the country and in cities around the world to protest Mr. Maduro’s inauguration.

Thousands turned out to an event in Caracas on Thursday to support Ms. Machado, risking government detention. There the opposition leader stood on a truck while supporters shouted: “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”

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“Guns went off at the event,” Ms. Meda said. “They took her away by force.”

During her brief detention, “she was forced to record several videos and was later released,” she added. “In the next few hours she will be the one to address the country and explain what happened.”

Representatives for Ms. Machado would not say who arrested her. The event was attended by numerous government security forces, often supported by members of armed gangs called Colectivos.

Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, speaks in a television interviewHe called the capture “a lie” and accused the opposition of fabricating it to attract attention.

The country’s opposition, as well as the United States and other countries, say Mr. Maduro recently stole an election and that the real winner is Edmundo González, a former diplomat who has Ms. Machado’s support.

Mr González has been living in exile since September.

Before her detention, Ms. Machado told her supporters: “This force that we have built, which is growing every day, has prepared us for this final phase.”

“Whatever they do tomorrow,” she said of Maduro’s inauguration, “they have simply buried themselves!”

Some 2,000 people have been arrested in Venezuela since the July 28 elections, including in recent days Mr. González’s son-in-law, Rafael Tudaresand Carlos Correa, the director of a high-profile nonprofit organization, Espacio Público.