Before a massive mobilization and people’s gathering, thousands of voices in Caracas, braving the rain, demanded the return to Venezuela of President Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, 21 days after their abduction by U.S. military forces.

An entire nation, convened by the PSUV to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the civic-military rebellion of January 23, 1958, gathered early in the morning at two points in the east and west of the city to converge on O’Leary Square, near Miraflores Palace, the seat of government.

Cabello stated in his speech that on January 23, the Venezuelan people were accustomed to marching to commemorate the “last betrayal of the people,” when the business, political, and religious elites, along with imperialism, conspired to commit treason.

He explained that they then fell into the hands of those who believed they owned Venezuela until Commander Hugo Chavez arrived and began to speak of the “vile betrayal to which the people were subjected,” and how these groups took advantage of the people’s movement.

Today, he affirmed, the people know that there will be no more betrayal and “we are all fully committed to the same Bolivarian and Chavez’s project,” and we are in the streets “not to remember the last betrayal, but to celebrate our absolute loyalty to our brother President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores.”

The political leader called for unity and steadfastness, asserting that January 3 was “a hard blow of sadness, anger, pain, and frustration,” but nothing and no one will stop this people, he added.

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