The protests took place a day before President Nicolas Maduro was due to be sworn in for a third six-year term
Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was arrested Thursday when her convoy was intercepted by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.
Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier Thursday and reappeared in public as part of a last-ditch attempt to block President Nicolas Maduro from clinging to power.
Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces fired on the motorcycle convoy as it was leaving eastern Caracas where Machado moments earlier had spoken to a crowd of supporters. There were no immediate details on her whereabouts and Maduro’s government has yet to comment.
The protests were taking place a day before the ruling party-controlled National Assembly is scheduled to swear in Maduro to a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election.
This is a breaking story, please follow for more. Additional reporting by Associated Press.