Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday said through his lawyers from detention in the United States that he is well and continues to fight, while at the same time the State Department called on Americans to leave Venezuela due to the unstable political situation.
"We are fine. We are fighters," Maduro said from a detention center in Brooklyn, New York, according to a video released yesterday by Venezuela's ruling party.
"Maduro and Cilia are our family"
Accused of, among other things, drug trafficking, Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, who pleaded not guilty in a US court on Monday, are being held in the United States until their next hearing on March 17.
Carrying banners with the message "We want them back," about a thousand supporters marched through the streets of Caracas yesterday, chanting: "Maduro and Celia are our family!"
Calls for demonstrations in support of the ousted socialist leader have been a daily occurrence since the US military operation on February 3. The turnout yesterday was smaller, without the presence of prominent figures from the ruling PSUV party, Hina reports.
State television broadcast a visit by interim President Delcy Rodriguez to an agricultural fair in Petare, a neighborhood of Caracas, where smaller demonstrations in support of Maduro were also held.
"We will not rest for a minute until we get the president back," Rodriguez said.
Americans urge their citizens not to travel to Venezuela
The US State Department yesterday urged all citizens not to travel to Venezuela, and those already there to "immediately leave the country" due to the "volatile" security situation.
The warning states that "armed militias, known as collective, erecting barricades and searching vehicles for evidence of American citizenship or support for the United States".
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