During her detention, an aide said, Maria Corina Machado “was forced to record several videos.” She has garnered enormous support for her opposition to Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at a protest ahead of the Friday inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for his third term, in Caracas, Venezuela January 9, 2025.

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was freed on Thursday, her Vente Venezuela movement said, shortly after she was detained amid gunshots while leaving a protest in eastern Caracas. Opposition demonstrations took place throughout the country in an 11th-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro ahead of his third inauguration on Friday.

Self-exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González is rallying regional support for the opposition's claims that he won the July election against President Nicolás Maduro

María Corina Machado was seized by President Nicolás Maduro’s regime after she appeared at a protest in Caracas.

Machado’s appearance at the rally was her first public appearance in months, since a government crackdown on Venezeulan opposition figures and their supporters last year.