Bogota, Colombia – Jesus Medina Ezaine had already spent 16 months in a Venezuelan military prison, accused of crimes he said were related to his work as a photojournalist.

But another prison stint seemed imminent, particularly after the contested re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

With Maduro set to be sworn in for a third term, Medina, 43, made a difficult decision: to flee his home in Venezuela for the relative safety of Bogota, the capital of neighbouring Colombia.

“Before they could put me back in prison, I decided to escape,” said Medina.

Maduro’s government has long faced criticism for the alleged repression of political rivals. But Friday’s inauguration ceremony is set to bring the recent electoral crisis to a head, with observers warning that the violence may escalate as Maduro strives to hold onto power.

“The regime  is going to do everything they can to ensure that Maduro can be re-inaugurated and that he can continue with his administration,” said Juan Pappier, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division.

“If they see that possibility challenged in any way, for example through [opposition-led] demonstrations, they are going to repress them brutally.”

A climate of fear

Medina remembers his final months in Venezuela as being drenched in fear.

In the lead-up to the controversial election, he had joined the campaign of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as a photographer, documenting her efforts to galvanise support for presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.

But that work once again made him a target.

Medina was not unknown to the Maduro government: In 2018, he was arrested on charges of money laundering, criminal association and inciting hate, all of which he denies.

Instead, he maintains his arrest was in retaliation for his reporting on human rights abuses. He was held without trial in the Ramo Verde military prison until January 2020.

“The Venezuelan regime does not tolerate any comments or information against them,” he said.

“The media is scared,” Medina added. “Freedom of expression in Venezuela has been completely lost because journalists inside Venezuela are doing what they can to avoid imprisonment.”

But the presidential election on July 28, 2024, brought political repression worse than any Medina had witnessed before.

Hours after polls closed, the National Electoral Council named Maduro the winner, without offering its usual breakdown of voting tallies.

Meanwhile, the opposition published receipts of the votes that instead suggested Gonzalez had won the election with nearly 70 percent of the vote. As protests erupted over the alleged electoral fraud, a government crackdown ensued.

As state forces swept the streets for protesters, seizing dissidents from their homes, Medina said he was tipped off that he would be jailed — again.

He quickly went into hiding. Medina spent two months holed up in different locations in the capital Caracas, trying to avoid arrest. He said the country’s intelligence forces had already knocked at the door of his home in the city.

Feeling cornered, Medina decided to flee on September 15 to Bogota, where he has stayed ever since.

A wave of repression

As many as 2,500 people were ultimately detained in the post-election protests, according to government statistics.

Another 25 people were killed, in what independent investigators for the United Nations called “unprecedented levels of violence”.

A UN fact-finding mission announced earlier this month that at least 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists and one human rights defender were among the arrested between August and December.

On Tuesday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also published a report alleging systematic state repression intended “to prevent the political participation of the opposition” and “sow terror among citizens”.

But in the lead-up to Friday’s inauguration, more than 1,500 prisoners detained in the post-election sweep have been released, in what critics say could be an attempt to reduce scrutiny on the government’s human rights record.

Alfredo Romero, the director of Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights watchdog, explained that “having a number of innocent youths with their relatives, especially their mothers, at the door of the prisons” holding vigils was reflecting poorly on the Maduro administration.

Rights groups have also questioned the accuracy of the government’s numbers.

Romero said that at least 1,749 prisoners remained in custody as of the first week of January, and more alleged dissidents had since been detained.

“People may be released from prison, but it doesn’t mean that new ones won’t be jailed,” he said.

Inauguration backlash

Despite widespread fear over repression, demonstrations are expected on the day of Maduro’s third inauguration.

Gonzalez, the opposition’s presidential candidate, has also pledged to return to Venezuela from his exile abroad and be sworn in on Friday. It is unclear how or if he will follow through on that pledge.

In a video message posted to social media on Sunday, Machado, who has remained in hiding in Venezuela for months, called on Venezuelans to march in support of a transition of power this week.

“Maduro is not going to leave on his own, we must make him leave with the strength of a population that never gives up,” Machado said. “It is time to stand firm and make them understand that this is as far as they go. That this is over.”

In turn, the Maduro government has ramped up security and deployed more than 1,200 military personnel to cities across the country to “guarantee peace” on inauguration day.

The government has also detained more than 12 human rights defenders, political activists, and relatives of opposition figures in recent days, according to Amnesty International, a human rights organisation.

The detainments allegedly include Gonzalez’s son-in-law, Rafael Tudares: The presidential candidate said Tudares was abducted by masked men in Caracas on Tuesday.

And on Thursday, Machado herself was detained as she left an anti-Maduro protest, according to opposition officials who said her transportation was fired upon. She was swiftly released.

An uncertain future

The recent arrests have prompted a new swell of international condemnation.

The United States Embassy in Venezuela has called the detention of Gonzalez’s son-in-law an act of “intimidation” against the opposition. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that the arrests prevented him from attending Maduro’s inauguration on Friday.

Still, Maduro’s control of state institutions has allowed security forces to act with impunity, according to the recent report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Medina himself believes repression in Venezuela may escalate if Maduro remains in power for a third term.

“If we do not achieve freedom, there will be much more persecution,” said Medina. “They will try to put an end to everything that they consider the opposition, including political leaders and the media.”

For now, he added that he hopes to continue his work exposing human rights abuses from abroad.

“What I have decided is that, no matter what, I’ll fight for my country.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — As cataclysmic wildfires rage across Los Angeles, President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t been offering much sympathy. Instead, he’s claiming he could do a better job managing the crisis, spewing falsehoods and casting blame on the state’s Democratic governor.

Trump has lashed out at his longtime political foe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s forest management policies and falsely claimed the state’s fish conservation efforts are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas. Referring to the governor by a derisive nickname, Trump said he should resign.

Meanwhile, more than 180,000 people have been under evacuation orders and the fires have consumed more than 45 square miles (116 square kilometers). One that destroyed the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades became the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history.

Trump v. Newsom: Round 2 was to be expected — the liberal Democrat has long been one of Trump’s biggest foils. But the Western fires are also a sign of something far more grave than a political spat or a fight over fish. Wildfire season is growing ever longer thanks to increasing drought and heat brought on by climate change.

Trump refuses to recognize the environmental dangers, instead blaming increasing natural disasters on his political opponents or on acts of God. He has promised to drill for more oil and cut back on renewable energy.

On Thursday, Trump said on social media that Newsom should “open up the water main” — an overly simplistic solution to a complex problem. “NO MORE EXCUSES FROM THIS INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR,” Trump said, adding, “IT’S ALREADY FAR TOO LATE!”

Standing on the street in a scorched subdivision as a home behind him was engulfed in flames, Newsom responded to the criticism when asked about it by CNN.

“People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder. Churches burned down, and this guy wants to politicize it,” Newsom said. “I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say, but I won’t.”

In a post on his Truth Social media network, Trump tried to connect dry hydrants to criticism of the state’s approach to balancing the distribution of water to farms and cities with the need to protect endangered species including the Delta smelt. Trump has sided with farmers over environmentalists in a long-running dispute over California’s scarce water resources. But that debate has nothing to do with the hydrant issue in Los Angeles, driven by an intense demand on a municipal system not designed to battle such blazes.

About 40% of Los Angeles city water comes from state-controlled projects connected to northern California and the state has limited the water it delivers this year. But the southern California reservoirs these canals help feed are at above-average levels for this time of year.

Roughly 20% of hydrants across the city went dry as crews battled blazes, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. Firefighters in Southern California are accustomed to dealing with the strong Santa Ana winds that blow in the fall and winter, but the hurricane-force gusts earlier in the week took them by surprise. The winds grounded firefighting aircraft that should have been making critical water drops, straining the hydrant system.

“This is unlike anything I’ve seen in my 25 years on the fire department,” Los Angeles Fire Capt. Adam VanGerpen told CBS This Morning.

Janisse Quiñones, head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the ferocity of the fire made the demand for water four times greater than “we’ve ever seen in the system.”

Hydrants are designed for fighting fires at one or two houses at a time, not hundreds, Quiñones said, and refilling the tanks also requires asking fire departments to pause firefighting efforts.

President Joe Biden, who was in California for an environmental event that ended up being canceled as the fires raged, appeared with Newsom at a Santa Monica firehouse on Wednesday and quickly issued a major disaster declaration for California, releasing some immediate federal funds.

But any additional federal response will be overseen by Trump, who has a history of withholding or delaying federal aid to punish his political enemies.

In September, during a press conference at his Los Angeles golf course, Trump threatened: “We won’t give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems.”

Trump’s support in California has increased in recent years, which could further embolden him in his tussles with Democratic leaders there. In 2024, he improved on his vote share in Los Angeles and surrounding areas hit by the fires by 4.68 percentage points. And while he still lost the state overall, he grew his overall margin by 4 points compared to the 2020 election.

As for the impact of the fires on Californians, Trump said areas in Beverly Hills and around it were “being decimated” and that he had “many friends living in those houses.” He framed the losses as a potential hit to the state’s finances.

“The biggest homes, some of the most valuable homes in the world are just destroyed. I don’t even know. You talk about a tax base, if those people leave you’re going to lose half your tax base of California,” Trump said.

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Associated Press Writer Maya Sweedler contributed to this report.

• Venezuelan opposition parties and their supporters protested around the country on Thursday in a last-minute effort to put pressure on President Nicolás Maduro, one day before he is due to be sworn in for his third six-year term.
• Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s most popular opposition leader, made an appearance for the first time since August when she went into hiding at an unknown location.
• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, 62, has been in power since 2013.

Venezuelan opposition parties and their supporters – including leader Maria Corina Machado, who had been in hiding – protested around the country on Thursday in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolás Maduro, one day before he is due to be sworn in for his third six-year term.

The opposition and the ruling party are locked in an ongoing dispute over last year’s presidential election, which they both claim to have won.

The country’s electoral authority and top court say Maduro, whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, won the July vote, though they have never published detailed tallies.

VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MARÍA MACHADO HAS URGENT MESSAGE FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP

The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, said it will arrest opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez should he return to the country and has detained prominent opposition members and activists in the lead-up to the inauguration.

The opposition says Gonzalez, 75, won in a landslide. It has published its own vote tallies as evidence, winning support from governments around the world, including the United States, which consider Gonzalez the president-elect.

Machado, who is the country’s most popular opposition leader but who was barred from running in 2024, joined a protest in Chacao in eastern Caracas at around 2:20 p.m. local time (18:20 GMT), dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans and waving a Venezuelan flag from the top of a truck.

“They lost the streets, which are ours, they are barricaded in Miraflores (presidential palace),” Machado told the crowd. “From today we are in a new phase.”

Her appearance marked her first public outing since August when she went into hiding at an unknown location.

Machado, 57, urged protesters to peacefully flood the streets and repeatedly asked members of the police and military – who guarded polling stations during the election – to back Gonzalez’s victory.

“I’m not afraid, I lost my fear a long time ago,” said 70-year-old Neglis Payares, a retired central bank worker, as she gathered with other opposition supporters in western Caracas in the morning.

“We don’t know how many of them have their heart on our side,” she added, gesturing at security forces who had gathered near the protest.

2 AMERICANS ARRESTED IN VENEZUELA ON EVE OF MADURO INAUGURATION OVER ‘TERRORISM’ CLAIMS

Reuters witnesses estimated some 7,000 people had gathered in Caracas by around 2:20 p.m. local time. In the days after the election, thousands also took to the streets.

Maduro, 62, has been in power since 2013. He has the vociferous support of leaders in the armed forces and the intelligence services, which are run by close allies of powerful Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

“I am convinced nothing will happen,” Cabello said on state television on Monday. “But that doesn’t mean we will lower our guard.”

The military’s financial interests make loyalty shifts unlikely, said BancTrust, a London investment bank, in a note. “A limited military rebellion would entail significant risks for those involved, thus diminishing incentives to participate,” it wrote.

‘WE HAVE NO WORK’

Security forces set up checkpoints around the country.

In the western oil city of Maracaibo, an opposition protest of dozens of people was quickly dispersed by motorcycle-mounted security forces by late morning. In central Valencia, protesters gathered at another location after initially being met with tear gas.

Opposition supporters also gathered in San Cristobal, near the border with Colombia, in the western city of Barquisimeto and in eastern Puerto Ordaz.

“I’m here because we need to get rid of this government. We have no money, we have no work,” 62-year-old housewife Roisa Gomez said at a protest in the central city of Maracay. “I’m fighting for my vote, which I cast for Edmundo Gonzalez. They cannot steal the election.”

Soon afterward, security forces used tear gas to disperse the Maracay protesters.

Many of the demonstrators were of retirement age and said they wanted change so their migrant children and grandchildren would return to the country. More than 7 million Venezuelans live abroad.

The ruling party was holding rival marches nationwide, images of which were broadcast on state television.

“We’ve come out to show that there is a democracy. On this side are the patriots who will be sworn in with Nicolas (Maduro), on the other side are fascists who want (foreign) intervention, war, to sell their country,” said 50-year-old Caracas motorcycle taxi driver Manual Rincon.

Gonzalez, who has been on a tour of the Americas this week and met with U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump’s national security advisor, has repeatedly pledged to return to Venezuela but given no details about how.

An arrest warrant was issued for Gonzalez for alleged conspiracy, prompting his September flight to Spain.

Machado is being investigated by the attorney general in at least two cases, but no warrant for her has been made public.

The government has detained several high-profile politicians and activists, including a former presidential candidate. This week, the attorney general’s office said it had freed more than 1,500 of the 2,000 people, including teenagers, detained during post-election protests.

Venezuelans living abroad also held protests, including in Madrid, where Gonzalez’s daughter Carolina Gonzalez spoke to hundreds of demonstrators.

“My dad sends a hug to all of you, glory to the brave people of Venezuela,” she said, her voice breaking.