Venezuela’s President Maduro begins third term amid international protest

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a third six-year term, despite an outpouring of international condemnation following July’s contested presidential election.

Standing before the National Assembly in the capital Caracas on Friday, Maduro took the oath of office with a pledge that his next term would be a “period of peace”.

But the lead-up to his inauguration was greeted with demonstrations and accusations of government repression and electoral fraud.

Protesters on Thursday 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 Maria Corina Machado came out of hiding for the first time in months to encourage supporters to maintain pressure on Maduro and his government.

She was briefly detained by security forces after her public appearance, according to her team. Other opposition leaders have been detained or face warrants for their arrest.

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 recognised opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela’s legitimate president-elect.

Critics denounced a new wave of repression in the lead-up to Friday’s ceremony, with several activists and opposition figures arrested in recent days, prompting the UN to express alarm.

Just Thursday, at least 17 protesters were detained, according to a post on the social media platform X by Gonzalo Himiob of the NGO Foro Penal.

Maduro had ordered the deployment of thousands of police and soldiers to maintain security in advance of the inauguration, particularly in the capital Caracas.

Armed military personnel guarded the streets, many of which were closed off for the ceremony, and traffic was significantly lighter than usual as police manned numerous roadblocks.