As narratives circulate abroad suggesting Venezuelans are celebrating the removal of President Nicolas Maduro amid deep economic hardship, scenes in the capital tell a different story.
Following the Trump administration’s abduction of Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, masses of people returned to public squares on Tuesday, waving Venezuelan flags, bouncing to patriotic music and flashing V-for-victory signs in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s vow to “run” the country.
Here are some photos showing how Venezuelans protest US intervention and demand the return of their abducted president.
The demonstrations have unfolded under heightened tension after a US military intervention involving air strikes, helicopters and special forces killed dozens, including civilians and military personnel.
Yet rather than provoking the people to come out against the remnants of Maduro’s government, the US intervention has galvanised large-scale mobilisation in the capital.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, named in the US indictment unsealed on Saturday, moved through the crowd wearing a blue cap bearing the slogan “to doubt is to betray,” high-fiving supporters and projecting calm as thousands rallied around him.
Venezuelans have lived with severe economic hardship for years, partly because of US sanctions, which crippled the country’s major source of income, oil exports. American pundits and the Venezuelan opposition, which is based in the US, had long created an impression that Maduro had lost popular support.
The protest rallies coincided with an explicit rejection of US authority by Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, after Trump said Washington would govern the country pending a political transition.
“The government of Venezuela is in charge in our country, and no one else. There is no foreign agent governing Venezuela,” Rodriguez said in a televised address on Tuesday.
That message echoed through the streets also on Monday during a “Great March for Venezuela,” when thousands of Maduro supporters gathered in downtown Caracas to denounce the US military attacks.
Protesters carried banners and chanted: “We want him back,” “Return our working-class president,” “Sovereignty is not negotiable,” and “We will always be loyal to Maduro.”
Maduro faces a US indictment alleging he colluded with drug cartels to traffic cocaine into the United States, charges that could carry a life sentence if he is convicted.
Appearing in a New York court on Monday, Maduro declared himself “the president of my country,” protested his abduction and pleaded not guilty.
While Venezuela continues to face severe economic challenges, the scale and persistence of the protests suggest that, for many demonstrators, opposition to US intervention and the assertion of national sovereignty have taken precedence.
