Venezuela opposition leader Machado ‘kidnapped’ then freed after anti-Maduro protest
Security forces ‘violently intercepted’ her convoy, Machado’s team said, but the authorities denied she had been detained
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s aides said she was detained on Thursday, followed moments later by official denials of her arrest, in a confusing episode that capped a day of protests seeking to block President Nicolas Maduro from clinging to power.
It remained unclear what exactly happened after Machado bid farewell to hundreds of supporters, hopped on a motorcycle and raced with her security convoy down a main Caracas avenue.
At 3.21pm local time, Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces “violently intercepted” her convoy. Her aides later told Associated Press that she had been detained, and international condemnation poured in from leaders in Latin America and beyond, demanding her release.
But about an hour later, a proof-of-life, 20-second video of Machado emerged online in which she says she was followed after leaving the “wonderful” rally and had dropped her purse.
Her aides later claimed in a social media post that the video message had been coerced, and that after recording it, she was freed. They said she would provide details of her “kidnapping” later.
