‘Free our president’: Nearly 2,000 Maduro supporters take to streets as Venezuelan leader’s son calls for protests

Nearly 2,000 supporters of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro protested on Sunday in the country’s capital, Caracas, demanding that the captured leader and his wife be released. This came as Maduro’s son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, called on Venezuelans to take to the streets after his father’s ouster by US forces.

On Monday, Maduro is expected to appear before a court in New York to be formally notified of charges of “narcoterrorism” linked to alleged cocaine smuggling into the United States. Meanwhile, Delcy Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro, has taken over as the country’s interim president following an order by Venezuela’s Supreme Court.

Maduro supporters take to the streets
Supporters gathered on the streets of Caracas on Sunday alongside pro-Maduro paramilitary groups and bikers. Many carried Venezuelan flags in red, blue and yellow.

“Free our president,” read a placard held by a man wearing a red flannel shirt featuring the image of Maduro’s predecessor and political mentor, Hugo Chavez, AFP reported.

“Venezuela is no one’s colony,” said another placard. This appeared to be a taunt at US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Saturday that Washington would “run” Venezuela.

Protesters in Caracas repeated claims that Maduro had been betrayed by someone within his close circle, making it easier for US special forces to move in and detain him at the country’s largest military base.

“Nicolas Maduro was removed by traitors, because with the amount of security he had this should never have happened,” a 69-year-old accountant told.

Maduro’s son also raised similar concerns about possible spies around his father in an audio message shared on social media on Sunday. “History will tell who the traitors were,” he said.

‘You will see us in the streets,’ says Maduro’s son
On Sunday, Maduro’s son urged people across Venezuela to come out onto the streets after his father was removed by US forces and taken to a New York jail.

“You will see us in the streets, you will see us by people’s sides, you will see us fly the flag of dignity,” he said in an audio message shared online.

“They want us to appear weak, but we will not show weakness,” he added.

Notably, Maduro Guerra, the ousted president’s only biological son, is also among six people, including his father and stepmother Cilia Flores, accused by US authorities of “narcoterrorism”.

The Trump administration carried out strikes on Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife early on Saturday. A plane carrying Maduro arrived in New York state later that evening, where he was formally charged with drug and weapons offences.