Maduro loyalists stage rally as Venezuelan govt courts US

CARACAS: Several hundred supporters of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro staged protests in the capital Saturday, a week after his capture by US forces, as the interim government moved to revive ties with Washington and slowly released some prisoners.

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,” demonstrator Soledad Rodriguez, 69, said 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 cooperation on US President Donald Trump’s oil demands.

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 also not seen at the demos.

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 January 3, signs emerged Friday of cooperation with Washington after Trump’s claim to be “in charge” of the South American country.

Rodriguez said Venezuela would deal with the United States through “the diplomatic route,” and Washington said US envoys visited Caracas on Friday to discuss reopening their embassy.

The Venezuelan government did not respond 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 Saturday that “the security situation in Venezuela remains fluid” and advised Americans to leave the country “immediately” as commercial flights become available.