Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term after a reelection widely viewed as illegitimate and as his administration grows increasingly brazen in cracking down on its opponents.

The inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro left his opponents to grapple with with conflicting feelings of hope and disappointment on Saturday, pondering why the self-described socialist leader could not be stopped despite credible evidence that he had lost the election last year.

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