President Nicolás Maduro will extend his increasingly repressive rule over Venezuela until 2031 when he is sworn in on Friday, despite credible evidence that his opponent won the latest election and following protests against his plan to serve a third six-year term.

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González is mobilizing regional backing, asserting he won July’s election over President Nicolás Maduro. View on euronews

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she is now safe after her aides said she was “intercepted” at a protest in Caracas on the eve of President Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration.

María Corina Machado, the driving force of Venezuela’s opposition movement, was briefly detained Thursday as she left a rally in Caracas, the opposition campaign said, a day before President Nicolás Maduro plans to take office for a third term.

Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia has urged the Venezuelan military to recognize him as their commander-in-chief and “put an end to the leadership” of President Nicolás Maduro,

The opposition says María Corina Machado was then freed on the eve of President Nicolás Maduro's inauguration.

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