Venezuelans Take to Streets in First Nationwide Opposition Protest in Nearly Two Years

In Maracay, in northern Venezuela, 18-year-old cosmetology student Leosmary Hernandez stood among hundreds of people on Thursday and said the sight made her happy, because it told her change was possible. She spoke of hardship tied to the dollar and of difficulties studying. She said she had protested before, when things were much tougher, and was even less afraid now because she wanted her voice heard. Her hopes, she said, rested on Maria Corina Machado as the country's next president.

Hernandez was one of thousands who turned out in several Venezuelan cities to demand free elections and other political changes. It was the first nationwide opposition protest in nearly two years. Machado's Vente Venezuela movement organised it, and demonstrations took place in the capital, Caracas, as well as Valencia, Maracay, San Cristobal and Maracaibo.

The backdrop is a country without a settled political future. In January, US forces captured Nicolas Maduro in a military raid. Since January 3, Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro's vice president and belongs to the long-governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), has led the country as interim president. The party stayed in power with the support of the White House. President Donald Trump has backed Rodriguez, and his administration has kept an active role in Venezuela, exerting control over its oil resources and pressing her government for reforms.

Both Trump and Rodriguez have said elections will be held, but no date has been set for a vote to choose Maduro's successor. Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has said the elections must take place by July 2027. She has been outside Venezuela for nearly a year, after living in hiding following the contested 2024 election. PSUV leaders have been accused of human rights abuses against political dissidents, including arbitrary arrest, imprisonment and torture.

The movement that has governed since 1999, first under the late Hugo Chavez and then Maduro, has in the past deployed security forces against protesters. On Thursday, government forces had minimal presence at the protest sites, and in many smaller cities demonstrators dispersed before dark.

The ruling party did stage a competing event. It called on supporters to march from Caracas' Plaza Venezuela, the same place the opposition planned to gather two hours later, to a spot near the presidential palace, in commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, known for his close ties to the security services, was shown on state television attending that march. Opposition supporters moved their protest to a nearby location.

Separately, US-backed talks are under way between a faction of the opposition and the interim government. They aim to remake the top court and the electoral council ahead of eventual elections, and held their latest session this month, though changes could take significant time. Machado's movement is not part of the negotiations, though she has said she will not stand in their way.

The dispute over 2024 remains unresolved. Machado's proxy, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, claims victory based on the opposition's own vote tallies. The government never released full counts and backed Maduro, as did the country's legal and electoral institutions. Machado had long sought US support, aligning with hawks in Trump's circle who argued that Maduro, through alleged links to drug gangs, was a direct threat to US national security. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face drug and torture charges in the US and have pleaded not guilty.

What to watch now is whether the talks produce a new court and electoral council, and whether anyone commits to an election date before Machado's July 2027 deadline.