Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido briefly detained

Venezuelan intelligence agents have released opposition leader and congress chief Juan Guaido after briefly detaining him on the way to a political rally, a congressional official has said.

A video posted on social media appears to show the moment Guaido was pulled from a car on a highway.

While it was not possible to identify the legislator in the video, his wife and Guaido’s own Twitter account said that he had been detained.

Urgente…..vean como fue el secuestro de @GuaiF Narcodictadura asesina pic.twitter.com/pUO53nVrH4

— Antonio Ledezma (@alcaldeledezma) 13 January 2019

Guaido on Friday said he was willing to assume the presidency after the opposition declared President Nicolas Maduro’s second term to be illegitimate.

The Information Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Maduro was sworn in to a second term on Thursday, defying critics in the United States and Latin America who called him an illegitimate usurper of a nation where economic chaos has wrought a humanitarian crisis.

Guaido, a legislator from the hardline Popular Will opposition party who was elected to head the National Assembly on January 5, said he would only take office with support of the armed forces.