{"id":90085,"date":"2026-01-05T19:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/90085\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T19:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:00:15","slug":"nypd-forced-to-separate-pro-maduro-protesters-venezuelans-in-wild-nyc-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/90085\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD forced to separate pro-Maduro protesters Venezuelans in wild NYC scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NYPD on Monday was forced to separate clueless lefty US protesters who want Nicol\u00e1s Maduro freed <\/a>and Venezuelans and Cubans cheering the socialist dictator\u2019s capture as both sides clashed outside court.<\/p>\n

About 30 demonstrators milled about waving signs reading, \u201cFree President Maduro\u201d and \u201cNo War for Venezuela Oil\u201d in front of the downtown Manhattan courthouse where Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were set to make their first appearance <\/a>before a federal judge on narco-terrorism, drug-trafficking and other charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand how the US gets to call him a dictator when he\u2019s been rightfully elected twice by the people of Venezuela in a very transparent election,\u201d said protester Sherry Finkelman, who was born in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Cops have to separate anti-Maduro protesters from professional lefties who want to see the socialist dictator reinstated Monday. AP<\/p>\n

The sides trade insults and clash at times outside Manhattan federal court. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Finkelman\u2019s 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\u2019s rightful leader after the 2024 race.<\/p>\n

Officials with progressive activist groups including Human Rights Watch have denounced the Maduro government\u2019s inhuman tactics as well, once decrying \u201cthe country\u2019s countless victims who\u2019ve been tortured and murdered by government forces, as well as the millions who have fled largely because of a humanitarian emergency the government unleashed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Finkleman dismissed Venezuelans celebrating Maduro\u2019s capture as \u201cpropaganda,\u201d despite even the Democratic Biden administration having offered $25 million<\/a> for his arrest.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s NYC court appearance following his capture<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re an a\u2013hole! You don\u2019t even know where Venezuela is!\u201d Cuban-born Dario Blanzo shouted at a protester.<\/p>\n

Anti-Maduro protesters from Venezuela and Cuba shout down the misguided liberal Americans calling for Maduro\u2019s release. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Maria Su, who immigrated to NYC from Caracas in 2017, raged, \u201cThey are not Venezuelans. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are paid protesters. They don\u2019t speak Spanish!\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Contreres, 52, who immigrated from Caracas in 1996, screamed at the crowd, \u201cYou\u2019re not for my country!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s capture:<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to Cuba!\u201d he said. \u201cEighty percent of you guys don\u2019t even understand what I\u2019m saying. You don\u2019t speak Spanish!\u201d <\/p>\n

Another Venezuelan man, punctuating his invective with a vulgar hand gesture, seethed, \u201cMotherf\u2014kers!\u201d<\/p>\n

Several dozen protesters show up outside the courthouse where Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are being arraigned. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Before the groups were separated, a protester in favor of Maduro\u2019s arrest point-blank asked a demonstrator who wants him reinstated where in Venezuela he was from.<\/p>\n

The protester stammered in explanation that he was actually from Staten Island and just \u201cstanding with Venezuelans,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much are they paying you? You\u2019re not really from Venezuela,\u201d an anti-Maduro rallier said.<\/p>\n

A Venezuelan man also mocked the protesters in Spanish, saying, \u201cYou are not even Venezuelans.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are paid by someone else to be here!<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me how you like arepas!\u201d he added, in reference to the savory white corn cakes popular in the embattled country.<\/p>\n

Some protesters said the pro-Maduro demonstrators are clearly on the wrong side of history.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we are here happy because he\u2019s going to face justice,\u201d Venezuelan-American Rafael Escalante said of the deposed dictator.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NYPD on Monday was forced to separate clueless lefty US protesters who want Nicol\u00e1s Maduro freed and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11827,9,15862,56,63,65,64,7428,42364,58,7318],"class_list":["post-90085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-brooklyn-federal-court","tag-new-york","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-protesters","tag-us-capture-of-nicolas-maduro","tag-us-news","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}