President-elect Donald Trump has issued a warning ahead of Trump’s inauguration controversial Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who took over the top job for a third term on Friday.
Despite significant opposition at home and abroad to the July elections, in which Maduro claimed victory without providing ballot proof, the Venezuelan leader, considered a “dictator” by US lawmakers, will now continue in office until 2031.
On Thursday, opposition leader María Corina Machado emerged after months in hiding to join hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters in the capital Caracas and demand that opposition candidate Edmundo González be sworn in instead.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 31, 2024, three days after his disputed re-election. Maduro banned the social network (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
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Machado was briefly detained by government security forces after they “forcibly intercepted” her convoy as she tried to leave the protests, the Associated Press reported.
Trump took to social media to demand she stay “safe and alive.”
“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and newly elected President Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and will of the Venezuelan people as hundreds of thousands of people demonstrate against the regime,” he wrote. “These freedom fighters must not be harmed and must remain safe and alive.”
The opposition figure was apparently forced to record several videos before being released details of those recordings remain unclear.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, January 9, 2025, the day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
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Maduro’s supporters have reportedly denied that Machado has been arrested.
On Friday, the Biden administration supported the efforts of opposition leaders and, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “newly elected President Edmundo González Urrutia must be sworn in and the democratic transition must begin.
“Today Nicolás Maduro held an unlawful presidential inauguration in Venezuela in a desperate attempt to seize power. The Venezuelan people and the world know the truth – Maduro clearly lost the 2024 presidential elections and has no right to claim the presidency,” the secretary said. a statement. “The United States rejects the National Electoral Council’s fraudulent announcement that Maduro won the presidential election and does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the President of Venezuela.
“We stand ready to support a return to democracy in Venezuela,” Blinken added.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed a new round of sanctions on the Maduro regime on Friday, this time targeting “officials leading key economic and security agencies that enable the repression of Nicolás Maduro . undermining democracy in Venezuela.”
Eight officials were named in the sanctions, including the recently appointed head of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, Hector Obregon, and Transport Minister Ramon Velasquez, according to a ministry statement.
“Additionally, OFAC is sanctioning high-ranking Venezuelan military and police officials who lead entities instrumental in carrying out Maduro’s repression and human rights abuses against democratic actors,” the statement said.
A Venezuelan opposition supporter reacts as he gathers with other supporters ahead of the inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025. (Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
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Maduro was also again targeted by Washington’s sanctions, and the reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction was increased to $25 million.
The same amount was offered to Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, along with a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.
Members of the military and police were also named in the sanctions.
Blinken confirmed Friday that visa restrictions have been imposed on some 2,000 people linked to Maduro.
