Maria Corina Machado: the face and fire of Venezuela's opposition

Maria Corina Machado, a 57-year-old engineer with rock-star appeal, became the fearless figurehead of Venezuela's opposition after being barred from challenging strongman Nicolas Maduro in elections last July.

On Thursday, she was "forcibly detained," then released, her team said, after emerging from months in hiding to lead a protest seeking to fire up resistance to Maduro's alleged power grab.

Polled as the most popular politician in Venezuela by far, Machado accepted taking a political back seat and campaigned tirelessly for her last-minute replacement on the ballot: little-known ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

She inspires devotion among opposition supporters who hail her as "la libertadora" -- an allusion to Venezuelan independence hero Simon "The Liberator" Bolivar.

Prior to the election, Machado polled as the most popular politician in Venezuela by far

Machado had won an opposition primary with 90 percent of votes cast in 2023, but was promptly declared ineligible by authorities loyal to Maduro.

She embraced the reluctant candidacy of Gonzalez Urrutia, accompanying him on rallies and soaking up the spotlight he shuns.

Always dressed in white, she often appears at rallies with multiple rosaries around her neck: gifts from adoring supporters.

As if she were a rock star, they rush to get a glimpse or touch her, holding up babies and children and proffering handwritten notes of support and presents of baseball caps or flowers.

"Si, se puede!" (Yes we can!), they chant at her rallies, thronging the streets in a bid to get close to her cavalcade, clambering onto roofs for a better view, snapping cellphone photos and waving Venezuelan flags.

Maduro third term

The excitement Machado generated helped little when it came to election day.

Maduro claimed victory despite the opposition saying polling station results showed Gonzalez Urrutia had won by a wide margin.

Machado is an engineer by training, and a mother of three

Even though most of the international community believe he stole the vote, Maduro is set to be sworn in Friday for a third six-year term.

Unlike Gonzalez Urrutia, who found exile in Spain after receiving post-election threats, Machado opted to stay in Venezuela to lead the resistance from hiding.

She adopted cloak-and-dagger tactics, popping up unannounced on the back of a truck on a street corner to give a speech before fleeing on the back of a motorcycle to avoid arrest.

This week she told AFP: "If something happens to me, the instruction is very clear: Nobody will negotiate Venezuela's freedom for my freedom."

On Thursday, her entourage said, she was knocked from the motorcycle she was leaving a rally on, then detained and forced to record several videos before being freed again. The government denies the claims.

'Bring our children home'

An engineer by training, Caracas-born Machado entered politics in 2002 at the head of the association Sumate (Join us), pushing for a referendum to recall Maduro's mentor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

She was accused of treason over the referendum call and received death threats, prompting her to send her two young sons and daughter to live abroad.

Machado had vowed to stay in Venezuela to lead the resistance from hiding

She reemerged to electrify the presidential campaign in 2023.

Barred from running, Machado was also banned from flying and criss-crossed the country by road to campaign for Gonzalez Urrutia with rousing speeches enthusiastically received.

Machado had promised an end to 25 years of increasingly repressive socialist rule, marked in recent years by a severe economic crisis which has prompted seven million people -- nearly a quarter of the population -- to emigrate from the once prosperous petro-state.

"We're going to liberate the country and bring our children home," she has vowed.

It was Machado's idea to deploy thousands of opposition volunteers to polling stations on election day to monitor the count and collate results.

Their tally showed Gonzalez Urrutia took at least two-thirds of votes cast.

The regime-loyal CNE electoral council announced victory for Maduro, but released no detailed count.

The United States, European Union and many other countries today recognize Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela's president-elect.

He, in turn, insists Machado remains the leader of the opposition.

In October, the pair was awarded the European Union's top human rights prize for having "fearlessly upheld" the values of justice, democracy and the rule of law.