By REGINA GARCIA CANO, Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in Friday to serve a third six-year term, extending his increasingly repressive rule until 2031 despite protests and credible evidence that his opponent won the election.

Venezuela’s legislative palace, where he was sworn in, was heavily guarded by police, military and intelligence officers. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in adjacent streets and a nearby plaza.

Standing before officials, Maduro cited historic figures including his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores arrive at the National Assembly for his swear-in ceremony for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

“I swear by history, I swear by my life,” Maduro said. His followers erupted into cheers.

One of them was Maricarmen Ruiz, 18, who couldn’t hold back her tears.

“I don’t have words to express my emotion, I’m happy,” she said, expressing relief that opposition leader Edmundo González wasn’t “imposed” instead as president.

The opposition collected tally sheets from more than 80% of electronic voting machines following the July 28 election, posted the tallies online and said they show González won twice as many votes as Maduro.

On Thursday, as hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters took to the streets of the capital, Caracas, aides to opposition leader María Corina Machado said she was briefly detained by security forces and coerced into recording videos.

The popular former lawmaker, whom the government has barred from running for office, had emerged from months of hiding to join the rally to demand González be sworn in instead of Maduro.

Machado addressed the rally then left on a motorcycle with her security convoy. Machado’s press team later announced on social media that security forces “violently intercepted” her convoy. Her aides confirmed to The Associated Press that the opposition hardliner was detained.

Leaders in the Americas and Europe condemned the government for suppressing opposition voices and demanded her release. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expressed his support for Machado and González.

“These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!” Trump said on Truth Social.

Maduro’s supporters denied that Machado was arrested, saying government opponents were spreading fake news to generate an international crisis.

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hold a banner that reads in Spanish: “Venezuela, you’re not alone” at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day before Maduro’s inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The brouhaha ahead of Maduro’s inauguration added to the litany of allegations of electoral fraud and brutal repression to silence dissent.

Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28, but unlike in previous presidential elections, they did not provide detailed vote counts.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask the country’s high court — also filled with allies of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela — to audit the election results. The court reaffirmed Maduro’s victory without providing thorough evidence and encouraged the electoral council to release the vote counts. But neither the council nor the ruling party produced any evidence that Maduro had won, even though their voting center representatives also were entitled to tally sheets from every voting machine.

The U.S.-based Carter Center, which observed the election on the government’s invitation, declared the opposition-published tallies legitimate. Other election experts that the government allowed to witness the vote said polling records published online by the opposition faction appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

The dispute over the results prompted international outrage and nationwide protests. The government responded with full force, arresting more than 2,000 demonstrators and encouraging Venezuelans to report anyone they suspect to be a ruling-party adversary. More than 20 people were killed during the unrest and many protesters reported being tortured in custody.

In a speech following his swearing in, Maduro said his government has “complied with the constitution,” despite little evidence that he won the election and international claims of fraud. He accused external powers of “attacking” Venezuela, specifically the U.S. government, and promised to guarantee “peace and national sovereignty.”

“Today more than ever I feel the weight of commitment, the power that I represent, the power that the constitution grants me,” he said. “I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America.”

It is unclear how many heads of state attended Friday’s inauguration ceremony hosted by the ruling party-controlled National Assembly. Cameras showed Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel, and Maduro greeted delegates from what he said numbered more than 120 nations.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a close Maduro ally, said he would skip the event citing the detentions earlier in the week of another longtime Venezuelan opposition member and a human rights defender.

Maduro’s last inauguration, in 2019, was attended by Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and then-Bolivian President Evo Morales. The 2018 election was widely considered a sham after his government banned major opposition parties from participating.

And it remains unclear if González, who left for exile in Spain in September, will fulfill his promise to return to Venezuela by Friday.

Government officials have repeatedly threatened González with arrest should he step on Venezuelan soil. On Tuesday, González said his son-in-law Rafael Tudares had been kidnapped in Caracas. González’s daughter, Mariana González de Tudares, suggested in a statement that the government was behind her husband’s disappearance.

“At what point did being related to Edmundo González Urrutia become a crime?” she said.

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed.