For the first time after being arrested and taken to the United States on January 3, 2026, accused of terrorism, possession of weapons and drug trafficking, the deposed president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro sent a message via social media to the people of his country.
Maduro and his wife, deputy Cilia Flores de Maduro, sign the message. “We receive your communications, messages, emails, letters and prayers. Every word of love, every gesture of affection, every expression of support fills our souls and strengthens us spiritually. We are well, firm, serene and in constant prayer”, reports the couple.
The post at no point addresses the accusations against the couple or what their days in prison are like while they await trial. Maduro and Cilia speak of “love, conscience and solidarity, both within Venezuela and beyond our borders”. “The love you send us transforms into moral strength, inner fortitude, and a commitment to the highest values in life,” they wrote.
Maduro changes his tone and only talks about peace, national unity and reconciliation
Since 2013, when he came to power, it is estimated that Maduro has taken more than 18,000 political prisoners. Of these, around 600 to 800 are still awaiting freedom. Exile and prisoner status made Maduro change his discourse of attacking political opponents. In the post, he says that “more than ever we call for continued efforts to consolidate peace in the country, national unity, reconciliation, forgiveness and the union of all”.
The couple’s demonstration ends with a quote from the Bible, in the Gospel of Saint Luke: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” To which Maduro and his wife add: “Let them ask with faith, seek with hope and knock with love, for the paths of God are open to those who persevere in truth, peace and light”.
In the comments, there were expressions of support for the couple, but a large number of criticisms and ironies for the dictator’s fate. “We want them to come back”, “God and the Virgin Mary always with our president and with Cilita”, wrote supporters. To which others replied: “already, they’ll be back, in 2089”, “stop dreaming, they don’t even want to come back” and “go get them”.
Maduro and Cilia are being held at the maximum security federal penitentiary Metropolitan Detention Center, in Brooklyn, New York. Although they are at the same address, they do not share a cell nor do they live directly together, as they occupy separate wings for men and women. The case against them is still in its infancy and could take up to two years.
