CARACAS: Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, captured by US forces in a nighttime raid in January, said Saturday that they feel “steadfast” and “serene” in their first social media post from prison.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months, after American commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas, and they have reportedly been without access to the internet or newspapers.

“We are well, steadfast, serene and in constant prayer,” the pair said in a message shared on Maduro’s X account, though it was unclear who made the post on their behalf.

“We have received your communications, your messages, your emails, your letters and your prayers. Every word of love, every gesture of affection, every expression of support fills our souls and strengthens us spiritually.”

A source close to the Venezuelan government told AFP that Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as “president” by some of his fellow detainees in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions.

He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.

His son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, known as “Nicolasito,” has said in public appearances that his father is well, calm, and even exercising in prison.

Maduro, who has declared himself a “prisoner of war,” had not spoken since being arraigned in New York on January 5.

“We feel a deep admiration for our people’s ability to remain united in difficult times, to express love, awareness, and solidarity, within Venezuela and beyond our borders,” the couple added in Saturday’s post.

During a one-hour hearing on Thursday, the judge rejected a defence motion over Maduro and his wife’s apparent inability to afford their legal bill without aid from the Venezuelan government. Neither spoke during the court appearance.

Maduro has pleaded not guilty to charges of “narco-terrorism” conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

The January operation deposed Maduro, who had led Venezuela since 2013, forcing the oil-rich country to largely bend to US President Donald Trump’s will.

Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro’s vice president since 2018, is now at the helm and grappling with leading a country saddled with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.

Since Maduro’s ouster, Rodriguez has enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed during his tenure and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth.

This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.

Large No Kings protests took place across the world on Saturday as demonstrators voiced opposition to US President Donald Trump and called for an end to the war on Iran.

Outside the United States, rallies were held in countries including Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia, where protesters chanted slogans against the Trump administration and demanded that the war be stopped.

• Over 3,200 events planned across all 50 states of United States.
• Organisers expect more protests in smaller communities this time.
• Protests driven by backlash against Iran conflict, Trump’s policies.
  

Massive protests against President Donald Trump kicked off Saturday across the United States and beyond, as millions of people vent fury over what they see as his authoritarian bent and other forms of cruel, law-trampling governance.

It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a grassroots movement called “No Kings,” the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025.

Now they have something new to fume over — the war against Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion.

The anti-Trump mood has spilled beyond US borders, with rallies Saturday in European cities including Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome.

US protests began in several cities, including Atlanta, where thousands of people gathered in a park to decry authoritarianism.

One man at the rally held a sign that read “We Are Losing Our Democracy.”

In the Michigan town of West Bloomfield, near Detroit, people braved below-freezing temperatures to protest.

Record numbers expected

The first “No Kings” nationwide protest day came last June on Trump´s 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade he organised in Washington. Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco.

The second such protest, in October, drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organisers.

The goal now is to bring out even more people Saturday, as Trump´s approval rating sinks below 40% and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump´s Republicans could lose control of both chambers of Congress.

Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his “Make America Great Again” movement, he is disliked with equal passion on the other side of America’s wide political chasm.

Foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his apparent obsession with fossil fuels and climate change denial.

They also dislike his gutting of racial and gender diversity programs, and his taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.

“Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war,” said Naveed Shah of Common Defence, a veterans association connected to the “No Kings” movement.

“At home, we’ve watched citizens killed in the streets by militarised forces. We´ve seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king.”

Springsteen in Minneapolis

Organisers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, in major cities and in suburbs and rural areas — even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle.

Minnesota is a key focal point, months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump´s violent immigration crackdown.

Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform his song “Streets of Minneapolis” in the twin city of St. Paul, the capital of the northern state.

Springsteen wrote and recorded the protest ballad in just 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot dead by federal agents during January protests against Trump´s immigration offensive.

What began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a “No Kings” movement of national resistance to Trump.

Organisers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds — a data point that is up sharply since the last protest.