Venezuela’s Maduro sworn in as opponents decry ‘coup’ and US raises reward for his capture

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third term on Friday in a ceremony decried as illegitimate by the opposition and internationally, with Washington offering a US$25 million reward for his arrest.

A defiant Maduro, 62, adorned with an oversized yellow, blue and red presidential sash, shrugged off the outcry over his unproven claim to have won another six-year term, saying that his investiture was a “great victory for Venezuelan democracy”.

His challenger in July’s election, Edmundo Gonzalez, recognised by the United States and much of Latin America as the legitimate winner, said Maduro had “crowned himself a dictator” and staged a “coup”.

Washington and London issued a bevy of sanctions on Maduro’s regime, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slamming the inauguration as “illegitimate”.

In a sign of Maduro’s isolation, only two prominent regional leaders – Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaraguan ex-guerilla Daniel Ortega – attended his inauguration. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his congratulations.

Traditional left-wing allies, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pointedly stayed away from the ceremony.