By: Hal C Clarke

Outside Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday, a small but loud group of pro–Nicolás Maduro demonstrators faced off with Venezuelan migrants who came to celebrate what they called a long-overdue moment of justice. As the New York Post reported, the scene quickly turned tense, with chanting activists in keffiyehs confronting Venezuelans waving flags and filming the facility to show friends and family back home that the longtime strongman was finally in custody.

Several Venezuelans told the New York Post they weren’t there to protest but to document history. Many snapped photos and recorded videos outside the high-security federal lockup, determined to prove to loved ones still in Venezuela that the man they blame for decades of repression was now behind bars. One woman, Karla Garzon, a 36-year-old tourism worker, spoke by phone while a friend showed her the jail. According to the Post, Garzon said she simply wanted to see where Maduro was being held after waiting decades for this moment.

“We’ve been waiting 25 years for this,” Garzon said, according to the New York Post. “Now we see it, I can’t believe it.”

As the Post reported, about 130 demonstrators gathered outside the MDC demanding Maduro’s release, many of them familiar faces from unrelated protests around New York City. Some wore keffiyehs and surgical masks, shouted anti-American slogans, and held professionally printed signs reading “No U.S. War on Venezuela” and “Free Maduro.” Venezuelans standing nearby dismissed the activists as outsiders exploiting another cause.

“These people are not from my country,” said Cinthia Davila, a Venezuelan mother who came with her young son, according to the New York Post. “They don’t know my country.” Davila screamed insults toward the jail, calling Maduro a “son of a b–ch,” as passing cars honked and waved Venezuelan flags in support.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in a dramatic pre-dawn operation in Caracas and flown to New York to face federal charges, including narcotrafficking, the New York Post reported. Their arrest followed years of U.S. accusations that Maduro turned Venezuela into a narco-state while brutally silencing political opposition.

Many Venezuelans watching the pro-Maduro rally were stunned by what they saw. As the Post reported, some demonstrators shouted about Palestine and U.S. imperialism, seemingly disconnected from Venezuela’s reality. “They don’t know what they are talking about,” said Magdalys, a 47-year-old native of Caracas. “They don’t know what Maduro has done.”

Another Venezuelan, Manuel, 38, was even harsher, calling the pro-dictator protesters “fools,” according to the New York Post. “They know nothing about Maduro. I don’t know why they are here.”

Garzon explained the anger shared by many Venezuelans, telling the Post that millions were forced to flee under Maduro, some dying while crossing jungles or borders in search of freedom. She said countless dissidents disappeared or were imprisoned, while students were killed for protesting the regime.