Protesters mobilize in wake of Maduro capture

By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square

A number of groups held protests across the country Saturday in the wake of the U.S. capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The feminist anti-war organization CODEPINK released a statement on Saturday condemning the swift American attack in Caracas, the country’s capital, saying the U.S. “bombed civilian and military sites” and “illegally kidnapped” Maduro.

“These are blatant and illegal acts of war by the Trump administration,” the statement reads.

President Donald Trump called the attack a “large-scale” U.S. strike. Though explosions were heard across Caracas, the attack reportedly lasted less than 30 minutes and focused on the seizure and extraction of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The strike comes after months of escalating conflict between the U.S. and the South American country, with the U.S. conducting dozens of lethal boat strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels and warning of a land invasion of Venezuela.

As of Saturday, CODEPINK had already organized protests in a handful of major cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland and Washington, D.C.

Though scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m., the D.C. protest wrapped up early, but The Center Square spoke to several individuals who estimated about 200 people had been in attendance. Protesters carried signs saying, “No blood for oil” and “Stop bombing Venezuela now.”

Trump has repeatedly blamed Maduro for flooding the U.S. with illegal immigrants, criminals and drug traffickers from his country to destabilise the U.S. He has also claimed that Maduro covertly heads a prominent Venezuelan drug cartel. The administration has framed its actions as protecting the American people from the scourge of illegal drugs and removing a dangerous man from power who gained his position illegitimately. Trump said Saturday the U.S. was going to “run” Venezuela until it could facilitate a “safe, proper and judicious” transfer of power.

Protesters said they see it not as helping the American people or Venezuelans but acting illegally to serve the interests of Americans in power. Twenty-nine-year-old D.C. resident Brett Heinz stood outside the White House in the late afternoon protesting the capture of Maduro.

“[Our government] has invaded a foreign country without any international legitimacy, in order to suck dry the natural resources of this country and to maintain an undemocratic structure within Venezuela, rather than to replace it, as they say,” Heinz told The Center Square.

Another protester held a hand-drawn sign of an eagle drinking from an oil pipeline with the caption “The Empire is thirsty.”

Another anti-war group, the Answer Coalition, founded just days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in 2001, posted a list of more than 100 locations across the U.S. where protesters could gather on Saturday.

The Trump administration has said that Maduro and his wife have been indicted in New York and Maduro faces multiple criminal charges.

“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” wrote U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on X.