Thousands March in Venezuela to Demand US Free Nicolás Maduro and Wife Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro

Thousands of people marched through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, demanding the release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, exactly one month since US forces abducted the couple in a bloody nighttime raid.  “Venezuela needs Nicolas!” the crowd chanted in Tuesday’s demonstration, titled “Gran Marcha” (The Great March).  Thousands carried signs in support of the abducted president, and many wore shirts calling for the couple’s return from detention in a US prison.  “The empire kidnapped them. We want them back,” declared one banner carried by marchers. 

A marcher holds a portrait depicting abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, on February 3, 2026.

Nicolas Maduro Guerra, the detained president’s son and a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, addressed the crowds from a stage, stating that the US military’s abduction of his father on January 3 “will remain marked like a scar on our face, forever”.  “Our homeland’s soil was desecrated by a foreign army”, Maduro Guerra said of the night US forces abducted his father.  The march, called by the government and involving many public sector workers, stretched for several hundred meters, accompanied by trucks blaring music. 

Local media outlet Venezuela News said the march was part of a “global day of action” to demand the couple’s release. Protesters showed their solidarity around the world, demonstrating under banners with slogans like “Bring them back” and “Hands off Venezuela”.  The international event united voices “from diverse ideological trends”, who agreed “that the detention of President Maduro and Cilia Flores represents a flagrant violation of international law and a dangerous precedent for the sovereignty of nations”, the news outlet said.  “We feel confused, sad, and angry.

There are a lot of emotions,” said Jose Perdomo, a 58-year-old municipal employee, who marched in Caracas.  “Sooner or later, they will have to free our president”, he said, adding that he also backed Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez.  Rodriguez has been walking a thin line since taking over as acting president, trying to appease Maduro’s supporters in government and accommodating the demands being placed on Caracas by US President Donald Trump.  Trump has said he is willing to work with Rodriguez, as long as Caracas falls in line with his demands, particularly on the US taking control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. 

Striking a conciliatory tone with Washington, and promising reform and reconciliation at home, Rodriguez has already freed hundreds of political prisoners and opened Venezuela’s nationalized hydrocarbons sector to private investment.  Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of university students and relatives of political prisoners also marched in the capital, calling for the quick approval of an amnesty law promised by Rodriguez that would free prisoners from the country’s jails. 

Legislation on the amnesty has not yet come before parliament.  Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of university students and relatives of political prisoners also marched in the capital, calling for the quick approval of an amnesty law promised by Rodriguez that would free prisoners from the country’s jails.  Legislation on the amnesty has not yet come before parliament. 

Venezuela’s Police and Military Pledge Loyalty to Interim President Rodriguez

Delcy Rodriguez receives loyalty pledge weeks after dozens killed in US military operation to abduct Nicolas Maduro.  Venezuela’s military and police have pledged loyalty to interim President Delcy Rodriguez, weeks after the country’s former President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by the United States military in a deadly operation ordered by US President Donald Trump.  Rodriguez attended a ceremony at the Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army at the Fuerte Tiuna military complex in Caracas on Wednesday, where top figures declared their loyalty to her government.  “We swear absolute loyalty and subordination,” said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who presented Rodriguez with the ceremonial baton and sword of independence hero Simon Bolivar. 

“This is an unprecedented moment in our republic,” Padrino said.  Padrino’s declaration comes weeks after the US operation to abduct Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, which the defense minister said saw 83 people killed by US forces, including 47 Venezuelan soldiers and 32 Cuban security personnel.  Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, also pledged loyalty on behalf of police forces, saying that supporting Rodriguez was important “because we feel that to defend your rule is to defend the continuity of the government and the integrity of the Venezuelan people”.  Rodriguez has led the country since the surprise abduction of Maduro on January 3. 

Rodriguez, who had been Maduro’s vice president, has pledged the beginning of a “new political moment” in the country, and began her new role by freeing political prisoners jailed under Maduro.  She has also said “there is no foreign agent governing Venezuela”, even as Trump has threatened further military intervention if the country does not comply with his ambitions, including handing greater control of the country’s vast oil reserves to US companies.  Trump indicated hours after seizing Maduro and Flores and taking them to a prison in New York that he favored getting his way by pressuring the new acting President Rodriguez, while also dismissing opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as a “very nice woman” but who did not command the support or “respect” to rule in Venezuela. 

Machado, who was the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has since gifted her award to Trump at the White House.  While in Washington, Machado told reporters she thought “no one has faith in Delcy Rodriguez”, after talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  At the military ceremony in Caracas on Wednesday, Rodriguez appeared to refer to opposition leader Machado, saying: “Those who seek to perpetuate harm and damage against the people of Venezuela, let them stay in Washington.”