A group of Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans gathered on Monday outside the White House to thank President Donald Trump for approving a mission to arrest now-deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, who terrorized the Venezuelan people for over a decade.
Those assembled did so in response to the historic apprehension of Maduro and his wife, “first combatant” Cilia Flores, on January 3 in a U.S. military Delta Force operation. The U.S. military arrested the couple in the Miraflores palace of Caracas and extradited them to New York, where they are facing a host of narco-terrorism charges in association with Maduro’s believed status as the head of the Cartel of the Suns, a multi-continental cocaine trafficking operation run through the Venezuelan military.
Maduro has ruled Venezuela since the death of dictator Hugo Chávez in 2013. He has presided over one of the largest migrant crises in the world, pushing 8 million Venezuelans to flee socialism. The massive diaspora allowed for spontaneous celebrations of his arrest around the world – and the phenomenon of Venezuelans confronting leftist protests in favor of Maduro around the world, only to find no other Venezuelans participating in them.
Supporters and activists backing US president Donald Trump gather outside the White House in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2026, celebrating the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
The group outside the White House on Monday organized primarily to thank President Trump for the bold move of arresting Maduro, which has led to what the Trump administration is depicting as a transition process to allow for true democratic elections in the long term. The rally-goers also called for Trump to continue pressuring the Maduro regime, now led by top henchwoman Delcy Rodríguez, to free the nation’s political prisoners and vacate power. Some held signs reading “Take Diosdado Away!” calling for the arrest of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a wanted suspected drug lord and the leader of the repressive arm of the Venezuelan security apparatus.
Speaking to the Latin American news outlet NTN24, the Venezuelans described feeling compelled to thank the president and undermine what they described as a false leftist narrative claiming that their people do not support the end of the socialist regime.
“First of all, to express gratitude to President Donald Trump for everything that he is doing … recovering dignity for Venezuelans, that for over 26 years we lost to this criminal drug trafficking system,” one of the attendees, who NTN24 did not identify by name, explained. He added that the objective of the rally was also “to defeat the false narrative of the international left that is trying to say that Venezuelans want Maduro back.”
“That is false, Maduro needs to be processed for his crimes,” he emphasized.
Another attendee described himself as a former political prisoner, recalling two years imprisoned by Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), a wing of Maduro’s repressive forces used to silence political dissidents, trapping into torture centers for over a decade.
“I was imprisoned two years in the Sebin [headquarters], I am a persecuted [Venezuelan],” the man explained. “Today, I tell you, not one more day can pass without freeing the ones in Tocorón, the ones in the Sebin, who are found today in every corner of Venezuela detained because their life is at risk.”
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The Venezuelans also shared a video on site each stating where in the country they are from, a subtle mockery of leftist protests for Maduro around the world in which none of the attendees appeared to be Venezuelan and Venezuelans appeared on site to ask them where they were from in the country, receiving no response.
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José Pérez, a Venezuelan online influencer that helped organize the rally, told the outlet TVV on Monday morning that the intent of the event was to “support for everything President Donald Trump is doing in Venezuela, in helping with the rescue and liberation of our country.”
“We are literally just thanking, nobody is making us do it,” he emphasized.
A poll released on Tuesday by the National Center of Consulting (CNC), a research institute, found that a majority of Venezuelans in the country also support the arrest of Maduro. Taken in every state in the nation and the Caracas federal district, the poll found that 79 percent of respondents supported Maduro’s arrest by the United States. The poll found that 80 percent of those 18 to 24 years old and 81 percent of those 55 to 69 years old expressed support; the lowest support was among Venezuelans over 70, who only supported Maduro’s arrest by 71 percent.
The state of the Venezuelan government is currently fluid, as President Trump has described acting dictator Delcy Rodríguez as an interim figure to help transition to free and fair elections. Trump has emphasized America’s demand for Rodríguez to free all political prisoners in the country, which are believed to total over 1,000 people. As of Monday, the Venezuelan human rights group Penal Forum has confirmed the release of only 49 political prisoners since Maduro’s arrest.
The regime has also begun arresting individuals suspected of opposing the regime or celebrating Maduro’s arrest. According to the State Department, credible reports exist that colectivos, armed chavista gangs believed to be under the control of Diosdado Cabello, are going door to door searching people’s phones for evidence of support for the United States or of American citizenship.
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