Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on Thursday, October 22, in the first nationwide opposition protest in nearly two years, demanding free elections and other political changes, Reuters reported from Caracas and Maracay.

The marches were organised by Vente Venezuela, the movement of opposition leader María Corina Machado, and took place in the capital Caracas as well as Valencia, Maracay, San Cristóbal and Maracaibo. Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been outside the country for nearly a year after living in hiding following the contested 2024 election, has said elections must take place by July 2027, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, the United States has been working closely with the interim government led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez — Maduro's former deputy — since US forces captured President Nicolás Maduro in January. Both US President Donald Trump and Rodríguez have said there will be elections, but neither has set a date for a legislative vote or a presidential contest.

In northern Maracay, 18-year-old cosmetology student Leosmary Hernández told Reuters: "Seeing this makes me happy because I know change is possible. I went out to protest before, when things were much tougher, and I'm even less afraid today because I want my voice to be heard."

A quieter security presence — and a claim of detentions

Witnesses and reporters described a notably thin presence of state security forces during the day, and crowds in provincial cities dispersed peacefully before nightfall — a contrast with earlier opposition rallies that were routinely broken up, independent coverage of the marches noted. The marches' slogan, set by Machado's movement, was "La fecha de la elección es la fecha de la liberación" — an election date is a date of liberation — and October 22 marked the third anniversary of the 2023 opposition primary Machado won before authorities barred her from office for 15 years.

Vente Venezuela said police detained seven sound-truck workers after the marches — a claim by the movement that authorities had not publicly answered in the reports reviewed. Reuters noted that Venezuela's socialist movement, in power since 1999 under Hugo Chávez and then Maduro, has in the past deployed security forces against protesters decrying repression, inflation and poor public services, including after the 2024 presidential election.