Thousands of supporters of Venezuela\u2019s former president, Nicolas Maduro, marched through Caracas to demand his release, one month after he was ousted in a US military operation and taken to New York to face drug charges, underscoring the political challenges facing interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
Thousands of backers of Venezuela\u2019s former leader, Nicolas Maduro, who was ousted in a deadly US military operation, marched in Caracas on Tuesday to demand his freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenezuela needs Nicolas,\u201d chanted the crowd, a month to the day since he was spectacularly toppled and whisked away to stand trial on drug charges in New York.<\/p>\n
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez has been walking a tightrope since then \u2013 trying to hold on to support from Washington but also from Maduro acolytes in her government and the Venezuelan people.<\/p>\n
Several demonstrators, many of them public sector workers, held photos of Maduro and of his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also seized in the US raid.<\/p>\n
The march, called by the government, stretched for several hundred metres, accompanied by trucks blaring music.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThese people are not American,\u201d said Maduro\u2019s son, Nicolas \u201cNicolasito\u201d Maduro Guerra, a deputy in Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have achieved a profound anti-imperialist consciousness\u201d.<\/p>\n
Many protesters waved Venezuelan flags and were dressed in the red colours of the ruling \u201cChavista\u201d movement named after Maduro\u2019s socialist predecessor, Hugo Chavez.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel confused, sad, and angry. There are a lot of emotions,\u201d said Jose Perdomo, a 58-year-old municipal employee who also declared his backing \u201cfor the decisions taken by our interim president, Delcy Rodriguez\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that \u201csooner or later they will have to free our president\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez was a staunch backer of Maduro and served as his vice president.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to work with her as long as she toes Washington\u2019s line, particularly on granting access to Venezuela\u2019s vast oil reserves.<\/p>\n
Under pressure, Rodriguez has started freeing political prisoners and opened Venezuela\u2019s nationalised hydrocarbons industry to private investment.<\/p>\n
The countries have rekindled diplomatic relations severed in 2019 after Maduro was accused of stealing his first re-election, with American envoy Laura Dogu\u2019s arrival in Caracas on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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On Tuesday, in a video issued by the US mission, she pointed to a three-phase plan for the crisis-stricken South American country, ending in \u201cthe transition to a friendly, stable, prosperous and democratic Venezuela\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez confirmed the meeting, calling it a \u201cfrank conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of university students and relatives of political prisoners also marched in the capital, calling for the quick approval of an amnesty law promised by Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said Tuesday she is working \u201cintensely\u201d on the amnesty law \u201cthat would allow us, in this whole period of political violence, of extremism, to carry out a national policy\u201d.<\/p>\n
The law has not yet come before parliament, whose leader is the acting president\u2019s brother, Jorge Rodriguez, another staunch Chavista and Maduro backer.<\/p>\n
Opposition deputy Stalin Gonzalez told AFP he expects the first debate on amnesty to be brought to the floor on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that the amnesty opens the door to reconciliation, coexistence, peace and democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Anti-government protests had been rare since the crackdown on demonstrations against Maduro\u2019s contested claim to another re-election in 2024.<\/p>\n
More than 2,000 people were jailed at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFreedom is in the streets and no one can stop it!\u201d chanted the crowd.<\/p>\n
The opposition in Venezuela has been calling for fresh elections to be held after Maduro\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thousands of supporters of Venezuela\u2019s former president, Nicolas Maduro, marched through Caracas to demand his release, one month after he was ousted in a US military operation and taken to New York to face drug charges, underscoring the political challenges facing interim leader Delcy Rodriguez. Thousands of backers of Venezuela\u2019s former leader, Nicolas Maduro, who …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1847,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions\/1847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}