Hundreds of Chavistas gathered this Sunday in the center of Caracas in a "great march" to demand the release of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, detained in the U.S. after that country's forces carried out an attack in Caracas and other states of the South American country. With Venezuelan flags in hand and some of them dressed in white, the Chavistas denounced what they call the "kidnapping" of the president and first lady, while at the same time chanting in defense of the "revolution" and the "independence" of their country. Several official leaders are participating in the demonstration, such as Pedro Infante, first vice president of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament), magistrate Tania Díaz, and the daughter of the late ruler Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), Rosa Inés Chávez, president of the Venezuelan National Institute of Parks (Inparques). The Chavists announced on Saturday, after the attack, that they would remain in the streets "permanently," and hundreds of them gathered in areas near the Miraflores presidential palace in the center of the Venezuelan capital, where the seats of the public powers are also located. Meanwhile, other areas of Caracas were beginning to return to the normality of daily life with some shops open, after a Saturday of tense calm, empty streets, and little traffic. Maduro was captured in a lightning-fast operation by Washington baptized as 'Absolute Resolution' along with his wife, to then be transferred to New York, where he spent his first night locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center federal jail in Brooklyn. The Chavista leader, formally accused in 2020 by the Southern District of New York Attorney's Office, which on Saturday made a substitute public accusation in the same court, will face federal charges for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and crimes related to automatic weapons. The next step in his case is expected to take place in the coming days before a federal judge in Manhattan. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ordered on Saturday night for the Vice President and Minister of Hydrocarbons, Delcy Rodríguez, to assume as the acting president of the South American country.
