The protest, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, attracted a diverse group of people from the D.C. region, including Modesto King.
“I thought I was gonna get a heart attack this morning when I watched the news,” said King. “It’s not for the United States government to tell them who is legitimate or not.”
King, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, said he wondered how many Latin American presidents the U.S. would remove from power.
Solyana Bekele shares that concern. The 24-year-old from Alexandria said whoever the U.S. doesn’t like becomes a dictator.
“All of a sudden, now we’re talking about narcoterrorism, and how that’s somehow attacking the U.S. sovereignty, and that’s being used as an excuse,” said Bekele.
Not everyone at Lafayette Square was as supportive of Maduro as many of the protesters.
Bryan, who lives in Maryland, pointed to the protesters and gave his thoughts.
“He’s a criminal, and he murdered people. He imprisoned people, political people who stood up against him,” said Bryan. “If these people want to criticize the Trump administration, why not move to a communist country like North Korea, China or Venezuela?”
On the other side of that argument was Kathy Boylan, 82, who said she believes those claims are a lie.
“First of all, it hasn’t been proven in court,” said Boylan. “Why don’t they go to court, honestly?”
As speakers addressed the crowd, watching close by was Malcolm, a former member of the Air Force who was holding a sign that read “Veterans Against War.”
“I saw the escalation we’ve been doing over the past couple weeks and months, but kidnapping another country’s leader is a new step for me,” said Malcolm.
Many protesters held signs that read “No Blood For Oil,” which was a major concern for D.C. resident Mary Pat Rowan.
“Venezuela does have enormous oil resources, and Trump would like to get at them. That’s what we did in Iraq, and that was wrong there, and I think we know it now,” said Rowan.
Standing near the White House gates was Jennifer Stancil, who was also holding a sign that read: “No War!!! Impeach, Convict, Remove. Congress do something!”
“They’ve been attacking these boats, and they’ve been doing this stuff and they’ve been trying to justify it. You think about if somebody did that to us, how upset we would be?,” said Stancil.