Machado addressed the rally then left on a motorcycle with her security convoy. Machado’s press team later announced on social media that security forces “violently intercepted” her convoy. Her aides confirmed to The Associated Press that the opposition hardliner was detained.
“At what point did being related to Edmundo González Urrutia become a crime?” she said.
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Standing before officials, Maduro cited historic figures including his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed.
“I swear by history, I swear by my life,” Maduro said. His followers erupted into cheers.
Government officials have repeatedly threatened González with arrest should he step on Venezuelan soil. On Tuesday, González said his son-in-law Rafael Tudares had been kidnapped in Caracas. González’s daughter, Mariana González de Tudares, suggested in a statement that the government was behind her husband’s disappearance.
The popular former lawmaker, whom the government has barred from running for office, had emerged from months of hiding to join the rally to demand González be sworn in instead of Maduro.
Leaders in the Americas and Europe condemned the government for suppressing opposition voices and demanded her release. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expressed his support for Machado and González.
Maduro’s last inauguration, in 2019, was attended by Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and then-Bolivian President Evo Morales. The 2018 election was widely considered a sham after his government banned major opposition parties from participating.
The U.S.-based Carter Center, which observed the election on the government’s invitation, declared the opposition-published tallies legitimate. Other election experts that the government allowed to witness the vote said polling records published online by the opposition faction appear to exhibit all of the original security features.
“These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Today more than ever I feel the weight of commitment, the power that I represent, the power that the constitution grants me,” he said. “I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America.”