Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term with all the pomp and circumstance of an inauguration, a sash with the colors of the country’s flag around his chest.

STORY: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third term on Friday despite a months-long election dispute and international calls for him to stand aside.Maduro's nearly 12 years in power have been marked by deep economic and social crisis.

Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third presidential term on Friday, despite overwhelming evidence that he lost July’s presidential election to opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez,