Useful information
Prime News delivers timely, accurate news and insights on global events, politics, business, and technology
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been sworn in for a third six-year term, despite widespread international condemnation following July’s controversial presidential election.
Before the National Assembly in the capital, Caracas, on Friday, Maduro took the oath of office promising that his next term would be a “period of peace.”
But the run-up to his inauguration was met with demonstrations and accusations of government repression and electoral fraud.
On Thursday, protesters took to the streets both in Venezuela and other countries with large Venezuelan diaspora communities, including Spain, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and El Salvador.
At the rally in Caracas, opposition leader María Corina Machado came out of hiding for the first time in months to encourage her supporters to keep up pressure on Maduro and his government.
According to her team, security forces briefly detained her after her public appearance. Other opposition leaders have been detained or face arrest warrants.
The opposition accuses Maduro, 62, of stealing last year’s July 28 election, and the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as Venezuela’s legitimate president-elect.
Critics denounced a new wave of repression in the run-up to Friday’s ceremony, with several activists and opposition figures arrested in recent days, prompting the UN to express alarm.
On Thursday alone, at least 17 protesters were detained, according to a post on the X social media platform by Gonzalo Himiob of the NGO Foro Penal.
Maduro had ordered the deployment of thousands of police and soldiers to maintain security ahead of the inauguration, particularly in the capital Caracas.
Armed military personnel guarded the streets, many of which were closed for the ceremony, and traffic was significantly lighter than usual as police maintained numerous checkpoints.
