NICOLAS Maduro’s only son has demanded Venezuelans take to the streets of Caracas to protest his dictator father’s arrest.
After the dramatic capture of Venezuelan president Maduro by US forces this weekend, his son encouraged citizens of the South American country to show support for the toppled tyrant.
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.”
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It comes as Colombia’s president has threatened to “take up arms” if Trump attacks his country, warning an attack from the US would unleash “the ‘jaguar’ of the people”.
Gustavo Petro staunchly defended Colombia’s sovereignty in a message posted to social media last night – after Trump accused him of “making cocaine and selling it to the United States”, and said military action was a good option.
Trump singled out Colombia in remarks made on Air Force One on Monday.
He said: “Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
Asked if military action was an option, he replied: “It sounds good to me.”
In response, Petro posted on X: “I am not illegitimate and I am not a narco.
“I swore not to touch a weapon again … but for the homeland I will take up arms again.”
Petro is a former leftist guerrilla fighter, who demobilised in the 90s before becoming mayor of Bogotá.
He was elected president in 2022, making history as the South American country’s first leftist president.
The Colombian president wrote: “Trump speaks without knowledge. Stop slandering me.”
He warned the US of dramatic consequences if it launched a Venezuela-style attack on the world’s largest producer of cocaine.
Petro posted: “If they [the US] bombs, the campesinos will become thousands of guerrillas in the mountains.
“And if they detain the president which a large part of the country loves and respects, they will unleash the ‘jaguar’ of the people.”
Mexico has also hit back after fears the Latin American country could come under attack from the US.
The Mexican government played down the chances of US military action against Mexican drug cartels, despite threats from Trump.
On Sunday, the US president claimed drugs were “pouring” through the country, saying: “we’re gonna have to do something”.
Mexico said that President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government has been complying with Washington’s demands, and stressed that economic ties between the US and its southern neighbour are vital.
Sheinbaum said on Monday that she doesn’t “see risks” of US military intervention, saying: “there is coordination, there is collaboration with the United States government.”
She added: “I don’t believe in [the possibility of] invasion, I don’t believe even that it’s something they are taking seriously.
“Organised crime is not taken care with [foreign military] intervention.”
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 Mondaywhere 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.