Caracas, Jan 9 (EFE).- Comando Con Venezuela, the campaign team of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, has denounced the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of political leader María Corina Machado after she led a demonstration in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration.
In a publication in X, the opposition command pointed out that the former deputy was “intercepted and thrown off the motorcycle she was riding” after leading a rally in the Chacao district of the Venezuelan capital.
“At that moment, gunshots were fired. She was taken by force. During her kidnapping, she was forced to record several videos and then released,” added the information, published almost two hours after her party, Vente Venezuela, denounced that Machado had been “violently intercepted.”
Human Rights Watch (HRW) deputy Americas director Juan Pappier, who reported that the NGO had confirmed the leader’s detention and called for her release, also confirmed that Machado was now free.
“We have confirmed with opposition sources the release of María Corina Machado. We demand that her safety be guaranteed,” Pappier said on his X .
Initial reports of María Corina Machado’s detention provoked a flurry of reactions from governments in Europe and Latin America, demanding her release and guarantees for her safety.
Machado reappeared on Thursday after 133 days hidden to lead an opposition mobilization on the eve of Friday’s inauguration of the president-elect.
“History changed forever” in the Caribbean country when the “pro-Chaves regime collapsed” and “brought out the worst in itself. The only thing it has left is to try to sow fear,” María Corina Machado told hundreds of ers in Caracas on Thursday before being captured.
With the of the pro-Cháves electoral authorities, Nicolás Maduro is preparing for the Jan. 10 inauguration, while the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, toured several countries in an attempt to gather for his presidential bid. EFE
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