A crowd of Venezuelans, Venezuelan-Americans, and anti-socialist demonstrators assembled Tuesday at the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza in New York to protest the arrival of Delcy Rodríguez, the figure now presenting herself as Venezuela’s interim president, according to Breitbart News. Rodríguez is attending the UN General Assembly’s annual general debate, where heads of state and government are invited to address their international peers.
The demonstrators, numbering in the dozens, waved Venezuelan flags and carried signs condemning Rodríguez and the remnants of the Maduro government she inherited. Their central message: Rodríguez and her circle do not speak for the Venezuelan people.
“Stop normalizing a mafia state,” read one sign held aloft at the plaza. Protesters also chanted “freedom” and a slogan aimed at Rodríguez: “Delcy, we swear it, you’re going to Brooklyn with Maduro!” — a reference to the Brooklyn jail where her former mentor is now held.
A protest against normalization
Erick Rozo, one of the protesters, told Telemundo that the demonstration’s purpose was the “absolute, total rejection” of the continued existence of socialist chavismo in Venezuela. He said the gathering was also meant to remind the world of “the continued and constant violations of human rights that our people continue to suffer.”
Addressing President Donald Trump directly, Rozo offered what he described as a respectful warning to Washington: “You do not do business with criminals.” He predicted that “sooner or later they will bite your hand.”
That warning reflected a current running through the protest: unease over an agreement Rodríguez arranged with the Trump administration concerning Venezuela’s oil resources. In August, Washington announced it had signed a deal that would give the United States control over substantial amounts of Venezuelan oil reserves. In exchange, the U.S. has tentatively agreed not to pursue further arrests of senior chavista officials implicated in drug trafficking or human rights abuses — a category that would include figures such as interior minister Diosdado Cabello and Rodríguez herself.
One protester told reporters the oil agreement was potentially a blessing for both nations, but that it was “in the wrong hands.”
“The oil agreement that the United States is doing with Venezuela is a blessing, to me it seems very good,” the protester said. “But it is in the wrong hands because anything that Delcy Rodríguez signs is not legal” — arguing that she is not a legitimate head of state.
Another demonstrator, speaking to the Spanish newspaper ABC, expressed gratitude to Trump for ordering Maduro’s arrest but complained that he had left “the 40 thieves” in power, likening Maduro to the fictional Ali Baba.
Maduro in Brooklyn, Rodríguez at the podium
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were arrested in Caracas in January by a special U.S. military team. He is currently in Brooklyn, awaiting trial on charges of drug trafficking and support for terrorism. That trial is expected to begin in June 2027.
His status as a wanted narco-terrorist — as Breitbart described him — had kept him away from the General Assembly debate for several years running. This year, the seat was occupied instead by Rodríguez, who arrived in New York on Monday and attended the assembly on Tuesday.
Her brief stay in the United States has been turbulent. Venezuelan-Americans, their allies, and journalists have confronted her about the regime she took over from Maduro and about her relationship with the jailed former leader. She has offered little response. Asked on Monday whether she would make a quick trip to Brooklyn to see her former boss, Rodríguez refused to answer and walked past the inquiring journalists.
She was present for President Trump’s address to the forum, in which he celebrated Maduro’s arrest as a win for the free world and spoke bluntly about Venezuela’s oil wealth.
“To the victor belong the spoils,” Trump said, according to Breitbart. “You all heard that. Our actions in Venezuela are proof the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western hemisphere and if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States.”
Rodríguez is expected to address the General Assembly on Wednesday evening.
The demonstrators outside the UN insisted the country deserves free and fair elections to choose a legitimate leader — particularly after Maduro clung to power through what they characterized as a series of sham ballots. For those gathered at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, the welcome extended to Rodríguez by the United Nations was itself the grievance: an international body treating her as a representative of the Venezuelan people when, in their view, she represents only what remains of a repudiated administration.
The protest added another layer of pressure to a relationship that has already produced tangible changes in U.S. policy toward Caracas. What remains of the Maduro administration under Rodríguez has been cooperating with the Trump administration, making periodic announcements about the release of limited numbers of political prisoners and expanding resource cooperation. Whether that cooperation outlasts the current arrangement is precisely what the protesters doubt — and what Rozo’s warning to Washington was meant to flag.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2026/09/23/venezuelans-flood-streets-of-nyc-to-protest-socialist-elites-getting-vip-treatment-at-u-n/