Machado freed after protest detention
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was freed, her Vente Venezuela movement said, shortly after she was detained amid gunshots while leaving a protest in eastern Caracas.
Opposition demonstrations took place throughout the country in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro ahead of his third inauguration.
Machado was detained after making her first public appearance in months, prompting her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, to demand she be freed immediately. Several governments also condemned the incident.
Government officials including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said her arrest was fabricated by the opposition in a bid to generate support for her movement.
Both the opposition and the ruling party claim to have won last year's presidential election.
In the meanwhile Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term, staying in power despite a six-month dispute over an election and international calls for him to stand aside.
Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July's election by both Venezuela's electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published.
Maduro was sworn in at the national assembly in Caracas by legislature head Jorge Rodriguez, with Maduro saying he was taking his oath in the name of sixteenth-century Indigenous leader Guaicaipuro and late President Hugo Chavez, his mentor, among others.
"May this new presidential term be a period of peace, of prosperity, of equality and the new democracy," Maduro said, adding he would comply with the laws of the country. "I swear on history, on my life and I will fulfil my mandate, we will fulfil."
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
