Maduro’s inauguration seals an election outcome that opposition politicians and the US government say was stolen.

Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro began a third term as president on Friday, cementing his increasingly authoritarian rule.

With his challengers scattered and reeling, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term, shrugging off international condemnation of a sham election and a brutal crackdown on dissent.