Nicolas

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.

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 metres, 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, 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 nationalised 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.

The ‘test’ of a new country

This longing is shared by Angelica Angel, a 24-year-old student activist in exile.

She had grown up with tear gas and police beatings in Venezuela. After all, she had started protesting at age 15.

“They’ve pointed their guns at me, beaten me and almost arrested me. That’s when you realise that these people have no limits: They target the elderly, women and even young girls,” Angel said.

But the increasing political repression ultimately made her life in Merida, a college town in western Venezuela, untenable.

After 2024’s disputed presidential election, Angel decided to voice her outrage on social media.

Maduro had claimed a third term in office, despite evidence that he had lost in a landslide. The opposition coalition obtained copies of more than 80 percent of the country’s voter tallies, showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, had won the race.

Protests again broke out, and again, Maduro’s government responded with force.

Military and security officers detained nearly 2,000 people, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights lawyers.

When Angel denounced the arbitrary detentions on TikTok, she began receiving daily threats.

By day, anonymous phone calls warned her of her impending arrest. By night, she heard pro-government gangs on motorcycles circling her home.

Fearing detention, she fled to Colombia in August 2024, leaving her family and friends behind.

But living outside Venezuela gave her a new perspective. She came to realise that the threats, persecution and violence she had learned to live with were not normal in a democratic country.

“When you leave, you realise that it isn’t normal to be afraid of the police, of unknown phone calls,” said Angel, her voice trembling. “I’m afraid to go back to my country and to be in that reality again.”

For exiled Venezuelans to return safely, Angel believes certain benchmarks must be met. The interim government must end arbitrary detention and allow opposition members, many of whom fled Venezuela, to return.

Only then, she explained, will Venezuela have moved past Maduro’s legacy.

“Exiles being able to return is a real test of whether a new country is taking shape,” she said.

Tarazona freed after four years in prison on ‘terrorism’ and conspiracy charges.

Venezuelan rights ‍activist Javier Tarazona has been freed ‍in a prisoner release, his family says, more than four years since he was arrested.

“After 1675 days, 4 years and 7 months, this long-awaited day has arrived. My brother Javier Tarazona is free,” Jose Rafael Tarazona posted on X on Sunday. “One person’s freedom is everyone’s hope.”

Legal rights group Foro Penal said several other prisoners had been released with Tarazona from the Helicoide detention centre in Caracas. The group said it has ​verified more than 300 political prisoners freed since the government announced a series of releases on January 8.

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday unveiled a proposed “amnesty law” covering hundreds of prisoners and said the Helicoide prison – long condemned by rights groups as a site of prisoner abuse – will be transformed into a sports and social services complex.

Translation: Today, #1Feb, after 1675 days, 4 years and 7 months, this long-awaited day has arrived. My brother Javier Tarazona is FREE. THANKS BE TO GOD ALMIGHTY. Thank you to everyone who made this moment possible. One person’s freedom is everyone’s hope. #FreeToLiberate

Tarazona is the director of FundaRedes, which tracks alleged abuses by Colombian armed groups and the Venezuelan military along the countries’ border. He was arrested in July 2021 and accused of “terrorism” and conspiracy.

Government officials – who deny holding political prisoners and say those jailed have committed crimes – have given a much higher figure for the releases, saying there have been more than 600, but have not been clear about the timeline and appear to be including releases from previous years. The government has never provided an official list of how many prisoners will be released or who they are.

Families of prisoners said the releases have progressed too slowly, and Foro Penal said more than 700 political prisoners remain jailed, an updated ​count including prisoners whose fearful families had not previously reported their detentions.

Families and rights advocates have long ‌demanded the charges and convictions against detainees who are considered political prisoners be revoked.

Opposition politicians, journalists and rights activists have long been subject to charges like “terrorism” and treason, which their families have called unjust and arbitrary.

The proposed amnesty law could affect hundreds of detainees who remain behind bars in the ‌South American country as well as former prisoners who have already been conditionally released.

The releases were announced as the top United States envoy for Venezuela arrived in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to reopen a US diplomatic mission seven years after ties were severed.

Last month, the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from the presidential palace in Caracas on the orders of US President Donald Trump.

Maduro was then taken to a prison in New York and is facing drug trafficking and “narcoterrorism” conspiracy charges.

Following United States forces’ abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a new set of questions is emerging as to how far Donald Trump is prepared to go in pushing US power abroad through direct intervention.

But is this a real break with past policy – or the latest iteration of the US’s longstanding interventionist power play in Latin America?

And with Cuba back in the administration’s sights, will Trump push for further action in the region?

This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive, Peter Kornbluh.