Venezuela’s Workers March on Miraflores. Rodríguez Sends in Tear Gas

MIAMI — Three months after Nicolás Maduro was pulled from power in a U.S. military operation that sent Doral’s streets into new year’s celebration, Venezuela’s workers marched on the presidential palace demanding something the transition has not delivered: a wage they can live on.

Venezuelan police met protesters with tear gas on Thursday to disperse around 2,000 protesters who marched toward the presidential palace to demand salary and pension increases — reporters on the ground witnessed. Dozens of riot police with helmets and shields lined the streets as the protesters made their way through central Caracas. Police fired tear gas when the demonstrators drew within a few blocks of the presidential palace. One protester suffered a gash on the arm after being hit by a rock thrown during the melee.

It was the biggest anti-government demonstration in Venezuela since August 2024 — a sign that the fear that gripped Venezuelan society under Maduro has begun to weaken. Protesters chanted “Yes, we can!” as they pressed demands for wages so low that many struggle to survive. Others shouted “Let’s go to Miraflores!” — the presidential palace — as they pushed through police lines.

They did not get there. National Police of the PNB — the Bolivarian National Police, or Policía Nacional Bolivariana — deployed early Thursday across downtown Caracas to intercept the march. Several times, demonstrators successfully breached initial barriers. Reinforced blockades eventually halted the crowd, leaving the majority of protesters roughly two kilometers from Miraflores.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests beyond the single reported incident during the scuffles.

What They Were Marching For

Union leaders, retirees, and public sector workers led the march, joined by students and activists. “Call for elections and leave,” said José Patines, a union leader marching in the column. "That’s what the Venezuelan worker wants today.”

The demand is not abstract. Venezuela’s monthly minimum wage stands at 130 bolivars — approximately $0.23 — unchanged since 2022, and roughly 330 times lower than the United Nations poverty line of $3 a day. While public sector wages can reach around $150 per month with government bonuses, they remain a fraction of the $645 that families need to cover basic food needs against annual inflation running above 600 percent.

Jesús Godoy, a public servant with over 20 years of service, showed an AFP reporter two 100-bolivar bills in his pocket — equivalent to about 40 U.S. cents — and said simply: “I don’t have enough.”

The protesters were explicit about the distinction that matters to them. They demanded increases to baseline salaries, not just to the bonuses and stipends that the government has periodically increased while leaving the formal minimum wage frozen. The difference is structural: bonuses can be withdrawn, reduced, or made conditional. A wage increase is a floor, and Venezuela’s floor has not moved in four years.

Rodríguez's Answer: Wait Until May

The march arrived one day after acting President Delcy Rodríguez addressed the nation on exactly this issue. She went on national television to promise workers a wage increase on May 1. She did not disclose the amount, saying it would be done in a way meant to avoid the inflationary spike that followed the last minimum wage increase. “This increase, as we have indicated, will be a responsible increase,” she said. “Likewise, in the near future, as Venezuela enjoys more resources that allow for the sustainability of salary improvements and workers’ income, we will continue moving forward on this path.”

For the workers who took to the streets the next morning, the speech was not an answer. It was a postponement dressed as a promise — with no figure, no timeline beyond a date three weeks away, and no guarantee that the increase would close a gap between the minimum wage and the poverty line that can only be described as catastrophic.

The government’s deployment of tear gas and riot police against workers marching for wages the day after that speech makes the sequencing impossible to ignore.

Rodríguez asked for patience on Wednesday. On Thursday, she sent the Bolivarian National Police to enforce it.

The Democratic Transition That Hasn’t Arrived

The promise of Maduro’s removal was not simply the removal of one man. It was the hope that the institutional machinery he used to suppress wages, silence dissent, and maintain a system of structured poverty would begin to dismantle. What Thursday showed is that the machinery is still running. The tear gas is the same tear gas. The blockades are the same blockades. The minimum wage is still $0.27.

Venezuelan security forces blocked an anti-government march from reaching the presidential palace on Thursday after a vague pledge to raise wages failed to calm workers angered by soaring prices.

The acting president who made that pledge is Maduro’s former vice president, governing with the institutional structures he built, surrounded by many of the officials he appointed.

The UN’s International Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela reported last month that since Maduro’s seizure, at least 87 new politically motivated detentions had been recorded — indicating that the practice of silencing dissent persists under the current government. Thursday’s deployment adds a new data point to that record.

What Comes Next

Rodríguez has promised a May 1 wage announcement. What that figure will be — and whether it will address the baseline salary that workers are demanding rather than the bonus structure the government has historically preferred — will determine whether Thursday’s march was a pressure release or an opening chapter.

The clashes reflect growing anger in Venezuela over the perceived failure of acting President Rodríguez to address a cost-of-living crisis that has trapped the country’s population in structural poverty for years. That anger is not going anywhere. The workers who marched to within two kilometers of Miraflores on Thursday know where the palace is, and they will know whether the May 1 announcement is enough.

For the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans watching from Miami, the picture is familiar. They left because the system could not be changed from within. What Thursday showed is that Venezuelans who stayed behind are still trying.

Sociedad Media will continue to monitor political and economic developments in Venezuela and their impact on the diaspora. For tips, stories, and firsthand accounts: info@sociedadmedia.com

Also, demonstrators on-the-ground — namely, Arnaldo Méndez, leader of the Trade Union Coalition, announced during the demonstrations on Thursday that a mobilization will be made on the U.S. embassy in Caracas on April 16, to demand the ouster of Delcy Rodríguez.

Sociedad Media will be following these developments simultaneously, if the march should occur.