CARACAS: Supporters of Venezuela’s deposed leader Nicolas Maduro staged protests Saturday, a week after his dramatic capture by US forces, but only hundreds turned out to demand his release as the interim government moved to revive ties with Washington.
Waving flags and placards with the face of the mustachioed ex-leader and his wife Cilia, around 1,000 protesters rallied in the west of Caracas and a few hundred in the eastern Petare district — far smaller than demonstrations Maduro’s camp has mustered in the past.
“I’ll march as often as I have to until Nicolas and Cilia come back,” said one demonstrator, Soledad Rodriguez, 69, of the presidential couple who were taken by US forces to New York to face trial on drug-trafficking charges.
“I trust blindly that they will come back — they have been kidnapped.”
Notably absent from the rallies were top figures from the government, which has said it is reviving diplomatic contact with Washington and discussing possible oil sales to the United States.
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez instead attended an agricultural fair, where she vowed in televised comments she would “not rest for a minute until we have our president back.”
The other two hardline powers in the government, Interior Minister and street enforcer Diosdado Cabello, and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, were not seen at the demos either.
Maduro claimed he was “doing well” in jail, his son Nicolas Maduro Guerra said in a video released Saturday by his party.
Despite the shock of his capture during deadly nighttime raids on Jan 3, signs emerged Friday of cooperation with Washington after US President Donald Trump’s claim to be “in charge” of the South American country.
Rodriguez said Venezuela would deal with the US through “the diplomatic route” and Washington said US envoys visited Caracas on Friday to discuss reopening their embassy.
A State Department official told AFP on Saturday they left again on Friday “as scheduled.”
“The Trump Administration remains in close contact with interim authorities” in Venezuela, the official added.
The Venezuelan government did not reply when asked by AFP whether the US officials had met with Rodriguez.
She has pledged to cooperate with Trump over his demands for access to Venezuela’s huge oil reserves.
But she also moved to placate the powerful pro-Maduro base by insisting Venezuela is not “subordinate” to Washington.
The US embassy in Colombia warned American citizens on Saturday that “the security situation in Venezuela remains fluid” and advised its nationals to leave the country “immediately” as commercial flights become available.
Anxious relatives meanwhile camped outside jails, awaiting the promised release of political prisoners by the interim government.
Rodriguez’s camp on Thursday began releasing prisoners jailed under Maduro, promising a “large” number would be freed in a gesture of appeasement that Washington took credit for.
However, prisoners’ rights groups said on Saturday that fewer than 20 had been freed, including several prominent opposition figures.
