Marchers holding posters with the photo of the Venezuelan baby girl Maikelys Espinoza, who was kidnapped by US authorities, during the May Day march in Caracas on May 1, 2025. Photo: Alma Plus TV.
President Nicolás Maduro, First Lady Cilia Flores, and President of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez joined the Great March of the Working Class. There, they demanded the United States regime’s release of the baby girl Maikelys Espinoza and 252 other Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador. “It is right to fight for the release of a two-year-old girl,” he stated at the start of his speech.
“We are going to rescue, safe and sound, the girl Maikelys Espinoza and the 252 people kidnapped in El Salvador,” President Maduro said bluntly from the Great Wall of Petare, where he welcomed the large march held in celebration of International Workers’ Day. The demonstration condemned the kidnapping of Venezuelan nationals in El Salvador and demanded the release of the two-year-old girl, who was prevented from returning to Venezuela with her mother by the US government.
The president explained that the child’s mother had been imprisoned for a year for being a migrant. “She [referring to far-right politician María Corina Machado] has called for Venezuelan migrants to be hunted down and captured on the streets of the United States and for them to be associated with the defeated and disbanded Tren de Aragua gang. They created a narrative about Venezuela. Leopoldo López, Ledezma, María Corina Machado, Juan Guaidó, Guanipa, Carlos Vecchio, Carlos Paparoni—all of them—are responsible for imposing a story linking migrants to this criminal gang and calling for their persecution.”
President Maduro asserted that the Venezuelan government is working with a group of lawyers and human rights defenders before US courts. “We hope that the courts in this country will soon issue a measure that allows the return of little Maikelys to her mother’s arms,” he said, questioning the health of US democracy. “Will there be justice in the US, or will an extreme right-wing dictatorship be imposed? The people of the US are asking,” Maduro said.
He held this far-right group responsible for whatever may happen to Maikelys Espinoza. “I publicly hold Mrs. María Machado, Leopoldo López, Carlos Paparoni, Carlos Vecchio, and Juan Guaidó responsible for whatever may happen to the girl Maikelys Espinoza in the forced disappearance to which she is subjected. They are responsible for the coyotes, for the persecution of Venezuelan migrants in the United States. Whoever does not want to see it, let them see it. Blessed are those who have believed and are seeing, and blessed are those who see and believe in the struggle we have waged for the return of Venezuelans to our homeland,” he added.
President Maduro, addressing migrants, said, “Stop passing through there. The true dream is that of our land to build with our hands. Stop being victims of xenophobia, of abuse… The only land that will welcome you and serve you like the prodigal son is called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We must take care of it, fertilize it, and build it. This homeland belongs to all!”
Maduro emphasized the right to build Venezuela’s own Creole social model. “We have the right to true democracy, to our cultural identity. We are not gringos. We are proudly Bolivarian, Latin American, Caribbean. We are Venezuelans!”
A fruitful march
Maduro thanked all sectors that participated in the May 1 mobilization. “They had proposed to dedicate the march to the combatant corps of the working class, but we heard this news and decided to fight for the release of the kidnapped,” he said.
First Lady and Deputy Cilia Flores highlighted workers’ participation in demanding Maikelys Espinoza’s rescue. “It is a noble cause. We are here in solidarity; we embrace this fight as our own,” Flores said from the platform.
President Maduro also thanked the public for their solidarity with the mother and grandmother of Maikelys Espinoza since the news broke.
“The working class has the rifles to defend peace in Venezuela. After learning of this case—the kidnapping of an innocent girl—we are sending planes to search for our migrants. Venezuela is the only country in the world financing this entire process, even returning migrants to their doorsteps with their families,” he added.
Finally, the Venezuelan president reiterated his faith in God, recalled blessings from Pope Francis, and assured justice would find Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
“We ask God for wisdom to soon have Maikelys Espinoza in her mother’s arms, as well as the 253 Venezuelans kidnapped in Nayib Bukele’s concentration camps. This criminal has committed grave human rights violations: forced disappearances and kidnappings. Justice will come to you, Nayib Bukele, sooner rather than later,” he added.
Venezuela: Attorney General Meets With Mother and Grandmother of Baby Abducted by US Authorities
The girl’s mother, Yorely Bernal, pleaded with the US justice system: “The people are fighting—this is proof. We are waiting for her with open arms.”
“I know they’re supporting me and will do everything possible to get the girl back,” Bernal told local media after the Caracas demonstration, where thousands nationwide demanded the minor’s release.
Bernal insisted her only goal is reuniting with her daughter in Venezuela: “This is her country, not there.”
For her part, Raida Inciarte, the girl’s grandmother, expressed trust in God and the Bolivarian government. “It is time they stopped using innocent people for their own purposes,” she said.
(Últimas Noticias) by Odry Farnetano
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
