Nicolás Maduro Guerra, son of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, said this week that his father told him from U.S. custody that Venezuelan authorities are taking “the right steps” toward “the unity of the people,” following a recent phone conversation between them.
Speaking at a meeting with supporters more than a month after his father was captured in a U.S. military operation and transferred to New York to face narcoterrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges, which he denies, Maduro Guerra described the exchange publicly for the first time.
“We spoke at length. He asked how everything was, how the homeland was, how the team was,” Maduro Guerra said. He quoted his father as saying: “You are doing exactly what you have to do and are taking the right steps. Our peace of mind here is the unity of the people and unity with the high command and my team. I fully trust the team, and they have done what they have to do.”
He added that his father also expressed support for a proposed amnesty law now advancing in Venezuela’s National Assembly, saying: “Amnesty not only for them, for us as well.”
Maduro Guerra, a lawmaker from the governing Socialist Party, has been one of the most visible advocates calling for the release and return of his father and stepmother, former congresswoman Cilia Flores, since their capture and transfer to the United States.
In the days immediately following the operation, Maduro Guerra released an audio message on social media saying he and his family were “fine” and “calm,” and urging supporters to mobilize. “They want to see us weak. They will not see us weak,” he said, according to a recording confirmed by Agence France-Presse.
U.S. court records show that Maduro Guerra himself has been named in the same federal case in New York. According to a Justice Department filing reported in January, U.S. authorities accuse him of maintaining ties to Colombian armed groups involved in drug trafficking and of participating in a 2020 meeting in Medellín to discuss cocaine and weapons shipments.
The proposed amnesty measure cited by Maduro Guerra was introduced by interim leader Delcy Rodríguez and would apply to political-related offenses since 1999, excluding homicide and human rights crimes. Venezuelan legislative leaders have said it could lead to the release of political detainees once fully approved.
Originally published on Latin Times
