Caracas, Jan 10 (AP) Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was arrested Thursday when her convoy was intercepted by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.

Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier Thursday and reappeared in public as part of a last-ditch attempt to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.

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Machado's press team said in a social media post that security forces fired on the motorcycle convoy as it was leaving eastern Caracas where Machado moments earlier had spoken to a crowd of supporters. There were no immediate details on her whereabouts and Maduro's government has yet to comment.

The protests were taking place a day before the ruling party-controlled National Assembly is scheduled to swear in Maduro to a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election. (AP)

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)