Media workers detained in Caracas as Venezuela Opposition leader Machado praises Trump

More than a dozen journalists were detained on Monday while covering political events in Venezuela’s capital Caracas, including a pro-government march and the swearing-in of a new legislature, according to a local press workers’ association.

The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) said 14 media workers were detained during reporting activities. All were later released, though one foreign journalist was deported. The association said most of those detained were working for international media organizations.

Independent verification of all detentions was not immediately possible.

Government ministries responsible for information and communications did not respond to requests for comment on the reported arrests.

The detentions followed a weekend operation in which U.S. forces took former President Nicolas Maduro into custody and transferred him to New York. On Monday, Maduro pleaded not guilty in U.S. federal court to narcoterrorism charges. His wife, Cilia Flores, also entered a not guilty plea, and a subsequent court hearing was scheduled for March 17.

Speaking through an interpreter, Maduro denied the charges during the hearing, saying he remained the legitimate president of Venezuela before being interrupted by the judge.

Small groups of demonstrators, both supportive of and opposed to Maduro, gathered outside the courthouse during the proceedings.

In Caracas, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has assumed interim leadership following Maduro’s removal, as political uncertainty continues and rival demonstrations take place.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States was targeting drug trafficking networks rather than Venezuela as a country. In a television interview, Trump said rapid elections would be impractical without broader stabilization measures, arguing that conditions were not yet in place for a credible vote.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado has said in her first televised interview since then that she hasn’t spoken to Donald Trump since October 2025.

“Actually, I spoke with president Trump on October 10, the same day the [Noble peace] prize was announced, [but] not since then,” Machado said on Fox News. Machado – widely seen as Maduro’s most credible opponent – left Venezuela last month to travel to Norway to accept the award and hasn’t returned since.

“I’m planning to go as soon as possible back home,” she told Fox when asked about her plans to return to Venezuela.

Trump on Saturday dismissed the idea of working with Machado, saying: “She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” US media reported on Monday that a classified CIA assessment presented to Trump concluded that senior Maduro loyalists, including interim president Delcy Rodríguez, were best positioned to maintain stability.

Despite this, Machado welcomed the US actions as “a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity”.