Machado's reappearrance coincided with the announcement of Edmundo González in the Dominican Republic of returning to Caracas to assume the presidency.
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Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was arrested Thursday when her convoy was intercepted by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.
Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier Thursday and reappeared in public as part of a last-ditch attempt to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.
Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces fired on the motorcycle convoy as it was leaving eastern Caracas where Machado moments earlier had spoken to a crowd of supporters. There were no immediate details on her whereabouts and Maduro’s government has yet to comment.
Caracas, along with other world capitals such as New York, Madrid, Buenos Aires and Brussels had been the scene earlier this Thursday of mass demonstrations in support of Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia. The protests coincide with the announcement of his return to Caracas to assume the presidency, after showing copies of the ballot papers which, as he has recalled, certify his victory in the elections of 28 July.
On the streets, the tension was palpable. Hundreds of Venezuelans, both opposition and pro-Chávez, have begun to march at various points in the Venezuelan capital. Some following the call of opposition leader María Corina Machado and others to celebrate and support the swearing in of Nicolás Maduro. Machado came out to shout slogans against Maduro, wearing a Venezuelan flag on her right sleeve, and took the opportunity to claim that Edmundo González was the winner.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan opposition leader, Edmundo González Urrutia, wanted to send a message of hope from the National Palace of the Dominican Republic: "We will all see each other very soon in Caracas, in freedom".
The atmosphere in Venezuela remains tense. Nicolás Maduro, internationally questioned, is scheduled to be sworn in this Friday for a third consecutive term in office, without having presented the official records of his victory.
The confrontation between the two sides has led to a day that could define Venezuela's political course, as the international community closely monitors the unfolding events.