THE streets of Caracas have erupted in chaos as Maduro supporters take over the capital in solidarity of their toppled tyrant.
Motorbike gangs and armed security forces are wreaking havoc across the city in the aftermath of the brazen capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces.
Highways leading into the capital have been commandeered by armed men with AK rifles, The Telegraph has reportedstopping cars to search drivers’ phones and vehicles.
The checkpoints have been hastily erected by pro-Maduro militants known as Colectivos.
Some Venezuelans are even too afraid to leave their homes as mobs with assault rifles roam the streets.
Yesterday, the Venezuelan government issued a state of emergency which ordered police to hunt for Trump or American sympathisers.
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The decree directed police to, “immediately begin the national search and capture of everyone involved in the promotion or support for the armed attack by the United States”.
Heavy gunfire was heard near the presidential palace in Caracas last night, after guards apparently shot at drones not realising they were Venezuelan aircraft performing surveillance over the city.
It comes as Maduro’s only son rallied Venezuelans to take to the streets of Caracas to protest his dictator father’s arrest.
Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, 35, said: “You will see us in the streets. You will see a united people. You will see us wave the flags of dignity.”
He added: “They want to see us weak, but they won’t see us that way.
“I swear on my life, I swear on my dad, I swear on Cilia, that we’re going to get out of this mess.”
Amid rumours of a spy within Maduro’s inner circle, the son of the deposed dictator said: “History will tell who the traitors were, history will reveal it.”
More than a dozen media workers were detained on Monday while covering events in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, the South American nation’s press association said.
All 14 of those detained were later released, the press association said on X, though one was a foreign journalist who was deported.
As Maduro loyalists desperately try to maintain their grip on the country, Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado said she was grateful for Maduro’s arrest by US forces, calling it a “huge step for humanity, for freedom”.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner told Fox News that the new interim president Delcy Rodríguez – who had been Maduro’s vice-president – “can’t be trusted”.
She said she was “planning to go back” to Venezuela “as soon as possible”.
Machado has been in hiding for many months.
It comes as America is planning on seizing a sanctioned Venezuelan oil tanker- the Bella 1 – off the coast of Ireland, after it evaded capture last month in the Caribbean Sea.
Flight tracking data show US military aircraft have been monitoring the vessel in recent days, which is currently about 500 miles from Ireland’s west coast.
RAF Typhoon fighter jets, accompanied by KC2 aerial refuelling tankers, have also been tracked flying towards the last known location of Bella 1, now re-registered in Russia as the Marinera.
Venezuela itself is still not clear of Trump’s wrath, as the US president warned that the country’s new interim leader could face consequences “probably bigger than Maduro” if she disobeyed Washington.
Don’s warnings came as the captured Venezuelan tyrant prepared to appear in a US courtroom on Monday, where the desperate dictator insisted he was simply a “prisoner of war”.
Maduro pleaded: “I am not guilty, I am a decent man, I am still the president of my country.”
His wife Cilia, 69, also pleaded not guilty, telling the judge she is “completely innocent”.
Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodriguez was also sworn in as interim president just hours later – putting an end to Maduro’s tyrannical 13-year reign.