“Our President was kidnapped.” Venezuelans protest in the streets and demand Maduro’s return

Supporters of Maduro and the late leader Hugo Chávez took to the streets to protest the American intervention and demand the president’s return.

Supporters of ‘Chavismo’ took to the streets of downtown Caracas today to demand that Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, be “returned”, after the North American leader, Donald Trump, announced the capture of the South American ruler.

“We are on the streets asking for proof of life, which return our President, who was kidnapped”, said the mayor of Caracas and admiral, Carmen Meléndez, in statements to the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), classifying the missile attack that occurred during the early hours of the morning against the Venezuelan capital and other areas of the country as “hostile”.

Wearing an olive green military uniform, Meléndez was accompanied by a group of people carrying images and paintings with the faces of Maduro and the late President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013).

According to the mayor, ‘Chavismo’ will not withdraw from the streets until the whereabouts of the head of state are known.

“We want Maduro”, shouted the ‘Chavistas’ concentrated in areas close to the presidential palace of Miraflores.

For his part, the head of the Government of the Capital District, Nahúm Fernández, stated that there will be mobilizations across the country to require “proof of life” of the Venezuelan President and respect for “human rights”.

Several detonations, accompanied by aircraft flying over, were heard during the early hours of today in Caracas and in neighboring states such as La Guaira, Miranda and Aragua, in the north of the country.

Trump reported, in a message published on the social network Truth Social, that the United States “successfully carried out a large-scale attack against Venezuela” and announced the capture of Maduro together with his wife, Cilia Flores.

According to Trump, both were removed “by air from the country”.

To vice-president from Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguezindicated that the authorities do not know the whereabouts of Maduro and Flores, while the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, denounced their “abduction”.

In Caracas, the Spanish news agency EFE reports the existence, in the morning, of empty streets and long queues of people outside the few open supermarkets.

“I have fear that there will be a social explosion and let us return to what was before, let there be scarcity. When I was young I could queue to buy food, now I can’t,” said a resident of the municipality of Chacao, requesting anonymity, while waiting for one of the supermarkets in the area to open.

Beside her, another woman – from a group of four – said she was trying to buy food to make reserves.

“At home we only buy what we need because everything is very expensive and now we have no food“, he told EFE. Most commercial establishments in this residential and commercial area were closed.

The Caracas Metro stations, the city’s main transport system, were not in operation. There were also no buses running and there was very little traffic on the streets.

Police vehicles and some vehicles from the Military Counter-Intelligence Directorate (DGCIM) circulated through the area.

In one of the supermarkets, several people approached to ask what time it opened. However, the women said they had little hope that the workers would make it.

“I have my mother upstairs, in another supermarket. We came to buy food because you never know if there will be another attack”, a young woman told EFE at the door of the same establishment.

The only supermarket open in that area in the east of the capital had a queue of around 50 people at the entrance. They only let one person in at a time, to avoid crowds inside the establishment. The same situation was repeated in Altamira, an area of ​​the city traditionally with an opposition tendency and adjacent to the air base.

In Plaza Francia, a group of seven women hoped to find a taxi to return home. On Friday night they had taken a bus to travel to the beaches of the state of Falcón (west), but, upon learning of the attack during the early hours of the morning, the transport returned to the capital and left them in the square.

In Los Palos Grandes, there were also about a hundred people queuing up outside a supermarketwhere only small groups were admitted to avoid crowds, and around 20 people and vehicles lined up at a pharmacy. The remaining commercial establishments, including fuel stations, were closed.