“Venezuela needs Nicolas,” chanted the crowd, a month to the day since he was spectacularly toppled and taken to New York to stand trial on drug charges.
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez has been walking a tightrope since trying to hold on to support from Washington while also keeping the backing of Maduro loyalists in her government and among the Venezuelan people.
Many demonstrators, including public sector workers, carried photos of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also seized in the US raid.
The march, organised by the government, stretched for several hundred metres with music blaring from trucks, and many protesters waved Venezuelan flags and wore the red colours of the ruling “Chavista” movement.
“We feel confused, sad and angry. There are a lot of emotions,” said Jose Perdomo, a 58‑year‑old municipal employee who voiced support for Rodriguez’s decisions and said, “Sooner or later they will have to free our president.”
Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of university students and relatives of political prisoners also took part in rallies in the capital, calling for the rapid approval of an amnesty law promised by Rodriguez that has not yet been brought before parliament.
US envoy Laura Dogu, who arrived in Caracas on Saturday as part of renewed diplomatic engagement with Venezuela, outlined a three‑phase plan for the crisis‑stricken country aimed at what she described as “the transition to a friendly, stable, prosperous and democratic Venezuela”. ”.
Opposition deputy Stalin Gonzalez told AFP he expects the first debate on the amnesty bill to come before the legislature on Thursday.
The opposition has also been calling for fresh elections after Maduro’s ouster last month.
