Sawt Falasteen - Venezuela opposition claims elusive leader briefly detained in Caracas protest

The 57-year-old engineer-turned-dissident emerged from among a throng of thousands of opposition supporters in north Caracas, climbing atop a pickup truck to defy a massive police deployment across the capital.

The protests were aimed at veteran leader Nicolas Maduro who expected to be sworn in for a third six-year term on Friday despite a disputed election.

He wishes to extend a quarter century of repressive military-backed rule that began with his larger-than-life mentor Hugo Chavez.

"We are not afraid!" Machado told the rapt crowd, who turned out in smaller numbers than expected amid widespread fears of another bloody government crackdown.

"From today we are in a new phase. Venezuela is free," she insisted, before donning a dark jacket, an ink-black helmet and jumping on the back of a motorbike that spirted her away.

What happened next remains unclear. Supporters said that after leaving the rally she was "violently" apprehended and "taken away by force" by security agents.

For almost an hour her team said little about her whereabouts.

Later they said she was knocked from the motorbike, "shots were fired" and she was "forced to record several videos" during a brief detention.

Venezuela's powerful minister of interior Diosdado Cabello called that account "a lie". "If there were a decision to detain her, she would be detained". "She's crazy," he said.

The opposition said Machado would later address the nation about the events.

- 'Don't play with fire' -

Machado's brief disappearance caused outcry among opposition supporters and much of the international community.

Exiled opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who many believe to be the actual winner of July's flawed election, warned the security forces not to "play with fire."

Nations from Ecuador to Spain condemned her reported detention and even US president-elect Donald Trump weighed in.

"Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people," Trump said on his platform Truth Social.

"These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!" he said, echoing his first term policy of "maximum pressure" against the authorities in Caracas.

- US denies plot -

Machado's public appearance -- her first in over four months -- capped a day of rallies across the country over Maduro's refusal to cede power.

Machado went into hiding shortly after the July 28 vote, when the security forces began cracking down on protests against Maduro's claim of victory.

She had urged opposition supporters to turn out in their "millions" but the crowds on Thursday were smaller than those in the direct aftermath of Maduro's alleged power grab.

Thousands of ruling party loyalists held their own rival demonstrations in central Caracas on Thursday, showing the government retains the strong support of some.

Maduro has accused the United States -- long opposed to his rule -- of plotting to overthrow him.

The Venezuelan leader, who counts on the backing of Russia and Cuba, the military, courts and electoral commission, has claimed that a senior FBI official was among a group of seven "mercenaries" arrested this week.

The US State Department denied US involvement in any coup plot.

Maduro has ruled Venezuela since 2013 and despite a sustained economic crisis that has pushed seven million citizens to emigrate, has shown no signs of relinquishing power.

Ahead of Thursday's protests, several activists and opposition figures, including a politician who ran against Maduro in July were reportedly arrested.

With neither the charisma nor the flush oil revenues of his mentor Chavez, Maduro is accused of relying on brute force to hold on to power and of driving the economy into the ground.

His last re-election, in 2018, was also marred by fraud allegations.

Attempts by Trump to force Maduro out during his first term as US president by recognizing a parallel opposition-led government and imposing sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector, came to naught.

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T.Samara--SF-PST