Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond
From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas
Venezuelan far-right politician Enrique Márquez is recognized as the president of the US empire, Donald Trump, delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term in Washington DC, on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. Photo: Kenny Holston/Reuters.
Venezuelan far-right opposition politician Enrique Márquez has once again made his way into the spotlight; not because he had performed a magnanimous or noble action for Venezuela, but because his presence was displayed at the Capitol in Washington, DC, by Donald Trump during the State of the Union address (SOTU) given by the US ruler.
“We brought him here tonight so he can celebrate his freedom. Enrique, please have a good time. I’m glad you’re back, Enrique,” Trump said this Tuesday, February 24, as cameras focused on Márquez, according to reports from Telemundo.
Márquez was initially released on January 8, 2026, as part of the prisoner release process initiated by President Nicolás Maduro that began in 2024. The process of releasing individuals linked to acts of political violence accelerated after the US empire’s bombings of the country, a demonstration by Acting President Delcy RodrĂguez of her commitment to promoting peace and democratic coexistence.
The release of Márquez and fellow far-right politician Biagio Pilieri was filmed on January 8 in a video shared the same day by the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP). The video shows Márquez embracing and kissing his wife.
At the SOTU, Trump mentioned that Alejandra González, Márquez’s niece, who was present, claimed she feared she would never see him again. “She (Alejandra) grew up in a very close-knit Venezuelan family and was especially close to her beloved uncle Enrique,” the US ruler said. “Alejandra, I am pleased to inform you that your uncle has not only been released but is also here tonight.”
Márquez had been arrested on January 8, 2025, for leading a plot to inaugurate Edmundo González as the so-called president of Venezuela, reported that same day by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello during his television program Con el Mazo Dando.
The founder of the People-Centered Party, Enrique Márquez, drafted a 21-page document with lawyer Sergio Urdaneta, proposing that the defeated far-right presidential candidate Edmundo González be sworn in at a Venezuelan embassy in an undisclosed country, Cabello reported at the time. He also revealed that a manifest entitled “Urgent Proposal Regarding January 10th, Proposal for Restricted Circulation Only to Recipients” was found on Márquez’s computer.
Minister Cabello condemned the action in which Márquez was involved as part of the coup d’Ă©tat that far-right sectors intended to carry out prior to the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro as president for the constitutional period 2025-2031, an act that took place on January 10 of last year.
On January 16, 2025, Cabello reported that SEBIN security agents captured Márquez; the opposition politician’s phone contained Signal chats “with several international actors and screenshots of bank transfers from foreign banks allegedly to finance a transitional board that was going to operate in Venezuela,” Cabello read out during his broadcast while sharing a letter sent to him by an informer.
Márquez’s disrespect for the nation
Analysts have noted the numerous ways in which Enrique Márquez disrespected the institutions of the state in 2025. He and Edmundo González were the only two candidates in the presidential election held on July 28, 2024, who did not sign a statement before the National Electoral Council (CNE) on June 20, 2024, agreeing to respect and recognize electoral results.
Although Márquez was among the nine former presidential candidates who on August 2, 2024, complied with the summons issued by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), within the framework of the investigation initiated by the Electoral Chamber of that institution—after on July 31, the head of state, Nicolás Maduro, filed an appeal to clarify the attack perpetrated against the Venezuelan electoral system—the right-winger did not sign the commitment before the highest court that day, in which the former candidates pledged to “submit all legally relevant documents that may be required” regarding the presidential elections.
In the ruling issued on August 22 by the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, which certified “in an unquestionable manner the expert electoral material, and validated the results of the presidential election of July 28, 2024, issued by the CNE,” where Nicolás Maduro was re-elected as president, it was also established that the political organizations “Alianza Lápiz and Movimiento Centrados para la Gente, did not submit the required electoral material; nor did the former candidates Antonio Ecarri and Enrique Márquez.”
Former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez went to the TSJ on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, to file a constitutional review appeal, seeking to overturn the Electoral Chamber’s ruling on the July 28 presidential elections results.
Fundalatin: Right-Wing Political Violence Killed 270 Venezuelans Between 2002 and 2019
Grateful to Trump
After announcing his invitation to the US Capitol, Enrique Márquez thanked Donald Trump for the invitation.
“Our thoughts and hearts are with the millions of Venezuelan migrants who today optimistically see the possibility of returning to their homeland,” Márquez wrote via social media. “We are committed to Venezuela, ready to work together in a tolerant manner, in a country where everyone without exception is needed and we must work together to achieve the longed-for change for all,” he posted from within the US empire, an entity that has criminalized and persecuted Venezuelan migrants, even those with ongoing regularization processes, in an initiative led by Trump himself.
Márquez is an engineer by training, and was vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) between 2021 and 2023. In his social media post, Márquez made no mention of the bombings ordered by Donald Trump against Venezuela.
In the early hours of Saturday, January 3, 2026, US troops bombed heavily populated areas of Caracas, Miranda, La Guaira, and Aragua, killing more than 100 people. The US invaders also kidnapped the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
