By Vivian Sequera and Mircely Guanipa CARACAS/MARACAY (Reuters) -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 Nicolas Maduro,

Opponents of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro took to the streets Thursday in a last-ditch protest against his swearing-in for a third six-year term as president.

If you need one word to describe Venezuela these days, it would be fearful.” That’s what one Latin American diplomat told CNN this week, reflecting on the strange atmosphere in the country.