One day after Nicolás Maduro was ousted in a US operation, some Venezuelans gathered in Caracas to pledge their unyielding loyalty to the embattled president.
Amid the empty streets and closed businesses, members of the pro-Maduro Venezuelan Bolivarian Militia could be seen carrying firearms and riding motorcycles around the city.
“We are trained and prepared to fight. We have already gone two days without sleep, and we are going to stay in the streets,” militia member Kelvin Maldonado told CNN. “Let (Trump) not be mistaken, he is threatening a second attack on Venezuela, but they will not catch us off guard again.”
The militia was created in 2005 by the late President Hugo Chávez and formally established in 2010. It is part of the country’s conventional military organization, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), and says that it aims to guarantee the “comprehensive defense of the nation.”
Maduro supporters protested in some parts of Caracas after the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) called for a demonstration in the city center to demand the release of the Venezuelan leader and the first lady, Cilia Flores.
The PSUV, as well as the Venezuelan government, has described the capture of Maduro and Flores as “kidnapping.” President Donald Trump’s administration maintains that they were detained to face drug trafficking charges in the US.
Narcizo Torrealba, a Maduro supporter, told CNN he believes that US leaders “want to steal Venezuela’s oil.”
“We are waiting for them here,” Torrealba said. “The slogan is resistance and rebellion.”