Venezuela’s opposition says its leader María Corina Machado was briefly arrested and then freed after addressing a protest rally on the eve of President Nicolás Maduro’s disputed inauguration.
Machado, 57, was “violently intercepted” in eastern Caracas and the motorcycle convoy in which she was riding was shot at, the opposition said, adding that she was forced to record several videos while being held.
Venezuela’s information minister Freddy Nanez dismissed reports of Machado’s detention as a “media distraction”.
Maduro, 62, was declared the winner of last July’s presidential election but the opposition and many countries, including the US, reject the result as fraudulent, and recognise the now-exiled opposition candidate Edmundo González as the legitimate president-elect.