Maduro is unleashing 'campaign of terror', warns opposition

Venezuela's main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has accused its strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, of unleashing a horrific "campaign of terror" in an attempt to cling on to power.

- Tom Phillips

More than two weeks after Maduro's widely questioned claim to have won the 28 July election, human rights activists say he has launched a ferocious clampdown designed to silence those convinced that his rival, Edmundo González, was the winner.

More than 1,300 people have been detained, including 116 teenagers, according to the rights group Foro Penal. At least 24 people have reportedly been killed.

Speaking from an undisclosed location where she has been in hiding, Machado a charismatic conservative and key González backer - urged the international community to oppose Maduro's intensifying crackdown.

"Innocent people are being detained or disappeared as we speak," said the 56-year-old former congresswoman, who endorsed González after authorities barred her from running.

Maduro's regime has nicknamed part of its clampdown Operación Tuntun (Operation Knock Knock), a chilling reference to the often latenight visits perceived government opponents have been getting from heavily armed captors.