In past visits to New York, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela made Harlem — and its renowned Black churches — a key stop. In at least two visits over the past decade, he brought his political message to Harlemites that stressed cooperation with Black Americans, one of many efforts to forge a relationship between his government and some Black leaders, to the chagrin of Washington.
In 2015, Mr. Maduro addressed a room of Black organizers and community leaders at the National Black Theater in Harlem while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. In a nearly hourlong speech, he exalted the importance of solidarity between Latin Americans and Black Americans, arguing they were bound by their struggles for civil and human rights.
He then made a bold pronouncement, echoing past leftist rallying cries: The fight against systemic racism in the United States, he said, was tied to the global fight against imperialism.
“From South America, believe me, brothers and sisters of the United States, we suffer with you,” he said, noting the widespread protests against police violence that had erupted in Ferguson, Mo., the prior summer. “It hurt us to see that the old scaffolding of racism is still intact and is like a ghost that is haunting our peoples,” he said.
Mr. Maduro returned to Harlem three years later, again sounding lofty themes of shared destiny between Black Americans and members of the Latin diaspora. At the Riverside Church in Harlem in 2018, Mr. Maduro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba spoke at an event organized to show support for Latin countries amid increased pressure from President Trump’s administration.
Black churches have often been the backdrop for prominent political and cultural figures: Sitting presidents, candidates and visiting dignitaries have made Harlem and its houses of worship must-stops while in New York. For Mr. Maduro, the neighborhood’s large Black population and rich history of activism offered a chance to curry favor with a small but influential group of Americans, whose backing he could benefit from.
Mr. Maduro found some support among Black activists. In 2015, he was hosted by a group that included then-state senator Bill Perkins, the actor Danny Glover and a Black Lives Matter co-founder, Opal Tometi.
But the Venezuelan leader has returned to New York under much more dire circumstances. Mr. Maduro and his wife landed in Newburgh, N.Y. on Saturday, after a U.S. military raid on Venezuela’s capital. They, their son and three other associates will face charges of cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism. Independent ballot box watchdog groups have also accused the self-described socialist leader of remaining in power by stealing elections.
Mr. Maduro was not the first controversial Latin American leader to mount a charm offensive in Harlem. During the 1960 U.N. General Assembly, the Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and his entire delegation relocated from their midtown hotel to Harlem’s Hotel Theresa, in a move he hoped would attract more Black support for his government. While there, he met with prominent Black leaders, including Malcolm X, and was widely celebrated for his efforts to desegregate Cuba. Mr. Castro returned to Harlem multiple times before his death.
Mr. Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chávez, also made trips to Harlem. In 2006, Mr. Chávez addressed a group at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church after giving a speech heavily critical of President George W. Bush at that year’s U.N. General Assembly. He was there promoting a program that would provide discounted heating oil to seniors and low-income Americans. In New York, residents of Harlem and the South Bronx received the bulk of the aid.
Mr. Chávez’s administration broadcast their efforts in the pages of The New York Times and other newspapers that year, in an ad that read: “How Venezuela Is Keeping the Home Fires Burning in Massachusetts.”
Maya King is a Times reporter covering New York politics.
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