<figure id="attachment_3274066" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3274066" style="width: 1603px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3274066" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/b81189ed-nicolas-maduro.jpg" alt="Nicolas Maduro" width="1603" height="1002" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3274066" class="wp-caption-text">Venezuelans march in Caracas demanding the US release of former leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
CARACAS: Thousands of backers of Venezuela&#8217;s former leader Nicolas Maduro, ousted in a deadly US military operation a month ago, marched in Caracas on Tuesday to demand his freedom.
&#8220;Venezuela needs Nicolas,&#8221; chanted the crowd, as stand-in President Delcy Rodriguez navigates a tightrope between holding on to support from Washington but also from Maduro acolytes in her government and the Venezuelan people.
Several demonstrators, many of them public sector workers, held photos of Maduro and of his wife, Cilia Flores, who were both seized by US forces on Jan 3 to stand trial on drug charges in New York.
Called by the government, the march stretched for several hundred metres, accompanied by trucks blaring music.
Many protesters waved Venezuelan flags and were dressed in the red colors of the ruling &#8220;Chavista&#8221; movement named after Maduro&#8217;s socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez.
&#8220;We feel confused, sad, angry. There are a lot of emotions,&#8221; said Jose Perdomo, a 58-year-old municipal employee who also declared his backing &#8220;for the decisions taken by our interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.&#8221;
He added that &#8220;sooner or later they will have to free our president.&#8221;
US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to work with Rodriguez as long as she toes Washington&#8217;s line, particularly on granting access to Venezuela&#8217;s vast oil reserves.
Under pressure, Rodriguez has started freeing political prisoners and opened Venezuela&#8217;s nationalised hydrocarbons industry to private investment.
She was a staunch backer of Maduro, and served as his vice president.

MatchPoint Times

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