Sawt Falasteen - Venezuela's Maduro sworn in as opposition decries 'coup'

The opposition accuses Maduro, 62, of stealing the election of July 28 last year, and the United States, European Union and several Latin American countries have recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela's legitimate president-elect.

Maduro took the oath before parliament, vowing his next term would be a "period of peace," a day after thousands took to the streets to protest his alleged power grab.

"With the usurpation of power by Nicolas Maduro... supported by brute force and ignoring the popular sovereignty expressed... on July 28, a coup d'etat has been accomplished," the Democratic Unitary Platform coalition said in a statement.

While Maduro claimed his investiture was a "victory of democracy," the United States and Britain immediately announced fresh sanctions on several senior Venezuelan officials.

Critics have denounced a fresh crackdown on opponents and critics in the lead-up to Friday's ceremony, with several activists and opposition figures arrested in recent days.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who had come out of hiding to lead Thursday's anti-Maduro rallies, was briefly held by security forces, according to her team.

At least 17 protesters were also detained, according to a post on X by Gonzalo Himiob of the NGO Foro Penal.

Maduro had ordered the deployment of thousands of police and soldiers in recent days.

Security forces cast a menacing pall over Thursday's demonstrations and kept a watchful eye over the capital Caracas for the swearing-in, closing off streets and setting up roadblocks.

Caracas confirmed the presence of President Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba -- one of Maduro's few allies -- at Friday's ceremony, which started more than an hour earlier than scheduled.

- 'We are not afraid' -

Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, had vowed to return to Venezuela to take power Friday, but those plans appear to have floundered with Caracas gripped by a wave of fear.

"Wanted" posters offering a $100,000 government reward for his capture have been plastered all over the capital.

More than 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and about 200 injured in protests following Maduro's claim of election victory last year.

The president has since maintained a fragile peace with the help of the security forces and paramilitary "colectivos" -- armed civilian volunteers accused of quelling protest through a reign of neighborhood terror.

Venezuela's CNE electoral council, loyal to the regime, had announced victory for Maduro within hours of polls closing last July. It has yet to provide a detailed vote breakdown.

The opposition, for its part, released a tally of polling station results showing Gonzalez Urrutia winning at least two-thirds of the vote.

Gonzalez Urrutia had replaced the wildly popular Machado, 57, on the ballot after she was barred from running by authorities.

On Thursday, Machado defiantly addressed protesters in Caracas, vowing: "We are not afraid."

Her team reported that Machado was "violently intercepted" as she left the rally and knocked off the motorcycle she was on as shots were fired in the vicinity.

She was then detained and forced to record a number of videos before being let go, it said.

- 'International conspiracy' -

News of Machado's detention sparked a flurry of condemnation, including from neighbor Colombia, which hosts most of the estimated seven million Venezuelans to have fled their country's economic collapse under Maduro's 12-year rule.

Citing "an international conspiracy to disturb Venezuelans' peace", Freddy Bernal, governor of the frontier state of Tachira, subsequently announced Friday that the border with Colombia was closed for the weekend.

US President-elect Donald Trump insisted Thursday that Machado and Gonzalez Urrutia "should not be harmed."

During his first term in office, Trump had tightened punitive measures against the Maduro government for anti-democratic actions.

The sanctions were partly lifted, then reimposed, by his successor Joe Biden and may well be hardened in Trump's next term.

Maduro's previous re-election, in 2018, was also widely rejected as fraudulent but he managed to cling to power through a mix of populism and repression, even as the economy imploded.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST