Venezuela Protests Erupt After Maduro's Detention

(MENAFN) Caracas descended into political chaos Tuesday as competing demonstrations engulfed the capital one month following the unprecedented American detention of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, leaving the nation fractured under interim leadership.

Rival crowds representing sharply divergent political allegiances flooded city streets simultaneously, exposing deep national divisions as Acting President Delcy Rodriguez attempts to steer the country through turbulent uncertainty.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) mobilized loyalists demanding the imprisoned former leader's immediate release. Under the coordination of PSUV Secretary General Diosdado Cabello and street mobilization director Nahum Fernandez, government supporters assembled at dawn to mount their resistance campaign.

"We will protest with conviction that justice will prevail," Fernandez declared, pledging the movement would maintain street presence offering "absolute support" to the administration. While advocating for Maduro's return, leadership figures stressed unwavering allegiance to Rodriguez, who assumed executive authority January 5, ensuring governmental continuity "in any scenario."

Opposition demonstrators simultaneously demanded sweeping reparations for those subjected to state-perpetrated brutality. Their rallying cries centered on accountability mechanisms targeting senior officials implicated in historical atrocities and preventing future human rights transgressions.

Maduro currently remains confined in a US federal detention facility while facing prosecution proceedings in New York. The ousted president confronts four serious criminal counts: conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess the illegal weapons.

Since consolidating power, Rodriguez has enacted a General Amnesty Law designed to liberate hundreds of political detainees imprisoned since 1999, while ordering the immediate shutdown of the notorious El Helicoide detention complex.

International watchdogs have long condemned the sprawling structure as a systematic torture facility. Authorities plan transforming the controversial site into a sports, cultural and social center serving neighboring Caracas communities.

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