The only son of captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro urged citizens in Caracas to take to the streets to protest his father’s arrest, warning that those who betrayed his family will be exposed.
Despite the call, the response was limited, though some armed and masked paramilitaries were reportedly seen in the capital on Monday.
Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, 35, who was indicted by the US alongside his parents in 2020, remained defiant. On Sunday, he vowed to do everything possible to free his family and resist US-backed rule in Venezuela.
“You will see us in the streets. You will see a united people. You will see us wave the flags of dignity,” Maduro Guerra said in a message reported by El País. “They want to see us weak, but they won’t see us that way. I swear on my life, on my dad, on Cilia, that we’re going to get out of this mess.”
He also issued a warning to anyone who betrayed his family by leaking his father’s location, saying the traitors would eventually be revealed.
Maduro Guerra, a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, is among several Venezuelan officials facing US charges over alleged connections to international drug trafficking and money laundering.
Other key figures include Venezuela’s defense minister, interior minister, former chief justice, and the former vice president for the economy.
Nicknamed “The Prince,” Maduro Guerra was appointed by his father in 2013 as Head of the Corps of Special Inspectors of the Presidency. He has been charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to possess machine guns. US authorities allege he collaborated with narcotics traffickers and narco-terrorist groups that sent cocaine shipments to the US—a trade President Trump said kills 300,000 people annually. In 2017 alone, he allegedly shipped hundreds of pounds of cocaine from Venezuela to Miami via shipping containers.
Other Venezuelan Officials Facing US Charges:
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Vladimir Padrino Lopez, 62, Minister of Defense, indicted for conspiring to distribute cocaine via US-registered aircraft from 2014 to 2019. The DOJ alleges he accepted bribes from cartel groups to allow safe travel through Venezuelan airspace.
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Diosdado Cabello Rondón, 62, Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace and former head of the National Assembly, faces charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation, and weapons violations. DOJ claims he coordinated cartel operations to ship drugs into the US.
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Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, 51, former vice president for the economy, was placed on ICE’s most-wanted list in 2019 for international narcotics trafficking and money laundering. He is accused of facilitating shipments for drug kingpins and providing protection to cartel leaders.
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Maikel Jose Moreno Perez, 60, former Chief Justice, stands accused of laundering millions and taking bribes to manipulate civil and criminal cases, including authorizing the sale of a $100 million auto plant for personal gain and dismissing a multibillion-dollar fraud case against a state-owned oil company.