Venezuelan activist calls Maduro’s detention an “illegal arrest of a murderous dictator”

Speaking to N1 in an exclusive interview, Díaz Hernández described Maduro’s arrest as illegal because it involved one country entering another to detain a sitting head of state, but said that legality cannot be separated from the reality of crimes committed.

“It is the illegal arrest, because it is a country entering another country to take a sitting head of state,” she said. “But it is the illegal arrest of a murderous dictator who has kidnapped an entire country for many, many years. Nicolás Maduro has never won an election, and he has been in power for over a decade.”

She rejected claims that Venezuelans support foreign invasion, saying such narratives distort the reality of a population that has exhausted every peaceful and legal path.

“I don’t know why people have such a hard time understanding that this is not about Venezuelans wanting to be invaded by the United States,” Díaz Hernández said. “We have been under a dictatorship for 27 years, and we have tried everything in our power — at least twice.”

According to her, Venezuelans repeatedly appealed to the international community, submitting extensive evidence of abuses and electoral fraud.

“We went to the international community many, many times, in every possible form, bringing every piece of evidence,” she said.

She said opposition forces also participated in elections despite systematic repression.

“We went to elections under a dictatorship — unfair elections, impossible elections,” Díaz Hernández said. “Maduro disqualified our candidate, so we had to find someone else to run on her behalf. And then we won.”

She said that victory was acknowledged globally, but ignored in practice.

“We went to every power in the world to show them that we had won,” she said.

“And they said, yes, you won. A year and a half ago, all of these countries said Nicolás Maduro lost. And then nothing else happened.”

She accused the international community of deliberate failure.

“They don’t do anything,” Díaz Hernández said. “The international community has failed us — just as it has failed every other country that is or has been in a similar conflict with rights being violated.”

She said that after years of inaction, Venezuelans turned to the United States because it was the only actor willing to respond — for one reason.

“Why? Because we have oil,” she said. “We are not stupid. They tell us, ‘It is because of your oil.’ We know.”

She dismissed any notion that external powers are motivated by altruism.

“They are not angels that want you to be free,” Díaz Hernández said. “Do you think we don’t know? We know. We want our country back.”

According to her, oil is Venezuela’s only remaining leverage.

“The only thing we have is oil,” she said. “And oil is the only thing that anyone will listen to, because nobody cares about us. This is a human rights conflict.”

She described what she said is the current reality inside the country.

“This is a government that has over 900 political prisoners being tortured as we speak,” Díaz Hernández said. “This is a country that has killed hundreds. Every time we have tried to protest, they kill some more.”

Responding to accusations of imperialism, she said the focus is selective.

“When people talk about imperialism, the only imperialism they care about is the United States one,” she said. “But we have been colonized by China and Russia for many, many years.”

She accused the government of allowing foreign exploitation of national resources.

“The government has allowed them to steal our country — our gold, our mineral resources and our oil,” Díaz Hernández said. “And nobody cared.”

She concluded that sudden outrage is insincere.

“So to care about this now is hypocritical,” she said. “And I cannot take it seriously.”