The NYPD on Monday was forced to separate clueless lefty US protesters who want Nicolás Maduro freed and Venezuelans and Cubans cheering the socialist dictator’s capture as both sides clashed outside court.
About 30 demonstrators milled about waving signs reading, “Free President Maduro” and “No War for Venezuela Oil” in front of the downtown Manhattan courthouse where Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were set to make their first appearance before a federal judge on narco-terrorism, drug-trafficking and other charges.
“I don’t understand how the US gets to call him a dictator when he’s been rightfully elected twice by the people of Venezuela in a very transparent election,” said protester Sherry Finkelman, who was born in Brooklyn.
Cops have to separate anti-Maduro protesters from professional lefties who want to see the socialist dictator reinstated Monday. AP
The sides trade insults and clash at times outside Manhattan federal court. REUTERS
Finkelman’s fact-free assertion ignores that both times Maduro stood for election, the results were widely denounced as illegitimate, and a coalition of 50 countries including the US refused to acknowledge him as Venezuela’s rightful leader after the 2024 race.
Officials with progressive activist groups including Human Rights Watch have denounced the Maduro government’s inhuman tactics as well, once decrying “the country’s countless victims who’ve been tortured and murdered by government forces, as well as the millions who have fled largely because of a humanitarian emergency the government unleashed.”
But Finkleman dismissed Venezuelans celebrating Maduro’s capture as “propaganda,” despite even the Democratic Biden administration having offered $25 million for his arrest.
Follow The Post’s live coverage of Nicolás Maduro’s NYC court appearance following his capture
A smaller group of Venezuelans showed up to applaud the toppling of the oppressive Maduro regime and hurled insults at the clueless protesters as cops put the opposing sides in separate pens.
“You’re an a–hole! You don’t even know where Venezuela is!” Cuban-born Dario Blanzo shouted at a protester.
Anti-Maduro protesters from Venezuela and Cuba shout down the misguided liberal Americans calling for Maduro’s release. REUTERS
Maria Su, who immigrated to NYC from Caracas in 2017, raged, “They are not Venezuelans.
“They are paid protesters. They don’t speak Spanish!”
Will Contreres, 52, who immigrated from Caracas in 1996, screamed at the crowd, “You’re not for my country!
Here’s the latest on Nicolás Maduro’s capture:
“Go to Cuba!” he said. “Eighty percent of you guys don’t even understand what I’m saying. You don’t speak Spanish!”
Another Venezuelan man, punctuating his invective with a vulgar hand gesture, seethed, “Motherf—kers!”
Several dozen protesters show up outside the courthouse where Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are being arraigned. REUTERS
Before the groups were separated, a protester in favor of Maduro’s arrest point-blank asked a demonstrator who wants him reinstated where in Venezuela he was from.
The protester stammered in explanation that he was actually from Staten Island and just “standing with Venezuelans,” at which point the anti-Maduro group started ripping the Venezuelan flag he was carrying. That prompted a short scuffle before the NYPD broke it up.
“How much are they paying you? You’re not really from Venezuela,” an anti-Maduro rallier said.
A Venezuelan man also mocked the protesters in Spanish, saying, “You are not even Venezuelans.
“You are paid by someone else to be here!
“Tell me how you like arepas!” he added, in reference to the savory white corn cakes popular in the embattled country.
Some protesters said the pro-Maduro demonstrators are clearly on the wrong side of history.
“Today we are here happy because he’s going to face justice,” Venezuelan-American Rafael Escalante said of the deposed dictator.
“But we are also making sure that the history of Venezuela is told by Venezuelans, not by a group of paid activists that make a career out of standing up for dictators.”