Venezuelan secret police seized and then swiftly released a prominent opposition leader, less than 48 hours after he declared himself ready to assume the presidency of his crisis-stricken country in a bold challenge to its leader Nicolás Maduro.

Juan Guaidó, the 35-year-old head of Venezuela’s opposition-run parliament, was reportedly taken by agents from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) on Sunday morning as he travelled north out of the capital, Caracas.

On Friday the politician threw down the gauntlet to Hugo Chávez’s heir, telling a rally Maduro was an illegitimate “usurper” and declaring that he therefore had the constitutional right to assume leadership of the country until fresh elections were held. Several regional powers, including Brazil and Colombia, voiced support for that move.

A video circulating on social media showed the moment of Guaidó’s detention, which sparked an immediate wave of international criticism.

The head of the Organisation of American States expressed his “absolute condemnation” of what he called “the kidnapping of Venezuela’s interim president”. “The international community must stop the crimes of Maduro and his goons,” Luis Almagro tweeted.

The United States secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, denounced the “arbitrary detention”, adding: “The US and world are watching”.

Two foreign journalists – from the Colombian broadcaster Caracol and CNN’s Spanish language channel, CNN en Español – were also reported to have been detained.

However, less than an hour after the first reports of Guaidó’s detention he was released. “I am with him already,” tweeted the politician’s wife, Fabiana Rosales, adding: “The dictatorship will not crush his fighting spirit.”