Protesters gathered outside a federal courthouse in the U.S. city of New York on Monday to denounce what they described as U.S. aggression against Venezuela, combined with "kidnapping" and "political theater," and demanding the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Demonstrators said that the U.S. had no legal or moral authority to detain a sitting head of state, warning the move could destabilize the region and undermine international norms.
The Venezuelan president made his first court appearance Monday morning in New York after he was captured by U.S. forces in Venezuela on Saturday, along with his wife Cilia Flores.
Security around the courthouse was visibly tightened, with police erecting barricades and deploying additional officers to control access to the area as crowds gathered and chanted slogans calling for Maduro's release.
"I am here to demand the release of President Maduro and the ending of U.S. aggression on Venezuela. This is political theater. He is being attacked and he has been kidnapped because he represents a people who refused to bow to U.S. imperialism, who want to keep their sovereignty in the face of U.S. aggression," said Izzy McCabe, a protester.
"We're here because we oppose U.S. intervention in Venezuela. We think it's completely outrageous to kidnap the sovereign head of state of another country and bring him here. The U.S. is not the policeman of the world," said Sydney Loving, another protester.
Several also questioned the legitimacy of the legal process itself.
"I don't really call it a trial. I call it a kidnapping, a farce, a joke," said protester Richard Degen.
"I think it's a sham trial. I think it's a fraudulent trial," said Che Marino, a protester.
They also warned that such actions could have broader consequences in the Latin American region, as well as the globe.
"When these kinds of imperialist takeovers happen, it destabilizes the country that is being immediately impacted; it can have a destabilizing effect on the surrounding countries; it can at times lead to civil war and a lot of pain and suffering," said demonstrator Jim Keady.
"The people of the world are watching this trial. They're seeing the U.S. as a decaying empire taking these even more extreme steps to subjugate sovereign nations. And this is just the beginning of his aggression on the whole world," said McCabe.
Protesters gather outside US courthouse to demand release of Venezuela's president
