Out of the shadows: Venezuela’s opposition emerges from hiding but remains on political sidelines

Members of Vente Venezuela, led by the Miranda state coordinator Anthony Romero, in La Dolorita neighbourhood, Caracas. Photograph: Andrea Hernández Briceño/The Guardian

For nearly 600 days, Anthony Romero crept between more than a dozen safe houses to avoid being captured by Venezuela’s secret police. After helping challenge Nicolás Maduro’s spurious claim to have won the 2024 presidential election, the opposition activist went underground, as the South American dictator waged a ruthless crackdown in an attempt to cling to power.

“He unleashed the harshest repression Venezuela has ever seen – we’re talking about nearly 3,000 arrests,” recalled Romero, 35, a lawyer who is part of the Nobel laureate María Corina Machado’s political party, Vente Venezuela.