Venezuelan Opposition Claims Top Leader María Corina Machado Abducted By Maduro Regime

Top Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was abducted by forces answering to the Maduro regime on Thursday, officials denounced.

The incident took place after a large rally led by Machado on the day before both the opposition and the regime intend to assume the presidency. Machado had been in hiding for months since a detention warrant was issued against her after the contested July 28 election in which the Maduro regime claimed to have won but failed to provide supporting documentation.

However, she resurfaced on Thursday. "This is over. VENEZUELA WILL BE FREE," she posted on her X account after the rally.

Journalists on the ground detailed that a convoy opened fire at a group of motorcycles transporting her. "They were knocked down, wounded one of them and took him along her," said journalist Carla Angola. Karen Aranguibel, Spokeswoman of Comando Con Venezuela, the Machado campaign team, confirmed her abduction to The Latin Times.

During a virtual press conference that took place on Monday, Machado stated that "if something were to happen to me, the instructions are very clear: nobody can put my freedom over the freedom of Venezuela":

Edmundo González Urrutia, who many in the international community consider to be the rightful president of Venezuela and who has vowed to take office on Friday, was one of the first ones to express the immediate release of María Corina Machado on his X account:

Notable political figures from the region have also expressed their outrage in lieu of the episode, including Panama president José Raúl Mulino, former president of Colombia Alvaro Uribe and several U.S. congressmen.