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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has addressed a mass rally in the capital Caracas, defying government calls for her arrest. <\/p>\n
Ms Machado went into hiding earlier this week after accusing President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of defrauding the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, of a clear victory in the presidential election.<\/p>\n
The president in turn has accused Ms Machado of stocking violence and said she and Mr Gonzalez should face decades behind bars.<\/p>\n
The electoral commission – controlled by allies of Mr Maduro – has insisted he won with 52% of last Sunday’s vote, but independent observers have said it lacked transparency. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The commission has not published the full breakdown of results. The opposition has said its own vote tally shows it won the election by a wide margin. Opinion polls ahead of the election had suggested a clear victory for the challenger. <\/p>\n
On Saturday Ms Machado addressed thousands of her supporters in Caracas from a truck bearing a banner reading “Venezuela has won”. <\/p>\n
“We have never been so strong as today,” she told the crowd, adding that “the regime has never been weaker… It has lost all legitimacy”.<\/p>\n
The opposition leader, who was blocked from running in the election, has spent days in hiding. <\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Ms Machado wrote in The Wall Street Journal that she had been left “fearing for my life,” along with other opposition leaders.<\/p>\n
She was greeted by cheers of “freedom, freedom” and was accompanied by several other opposition leaders – but not Mr Gonzales. <\/p>\n
In a separate a video message he urged supporters to “respond to the regime’s attacks with hope, harmony, and peace”. <\/p>\n
Security forces in Venezuela have spent the past several days trying to contain mass protests. At least 11 people have died in clashes with police. <\/p>\n
More than 1,000 opposition demonstrators have been arrested. <\/p>\n
The government is coming under increasing international pressure. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that there was “overwhelming evidence” that Mr Gonzalez had won the election. <\/p>\n
His intervention comes as the presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia all called on Venezuela to release detailed election results.<\/p>\n
Other regional governments, including Argentine, Costa Rica, Panama and Uruguay have all raised concern over the vote. <\/p>\n
But Mr Maduro has been backed by his allies in Russia, China and Cuba. <\/p>\n
He has asked Venezuela’s top court to audit the voting tallies with a view to confirming the results, which handed him another six-year term in power.<\/p>\n
The opposition says the court is in the hands of government loyalists who will delay the publication of the tallies. Mr Gonzalez boycotted court proceedings on Friday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n