Some of Nicolás Maduro’s first gestures on camera after he was captured by U.S. forces seemed anything but defeated: A thumbs up, and what many took to be a defiant peace sign, flashed as he and his wife were led in handcuffs by authorities upon their arrival in New York on Saturday.
The true meaning of the gesture was not lost on his loyalists. At a session of Venezuela’s National Assembly in Caracas, the capital, on Monday, legislators flashed the same sign, sometimes with slight variations.
It was not simply the universal sign for peace.
A two-finger “V” gesture has long been used to signal victory in a wartime context, and was popularized by Winston Churchill during World War II.
The two-handed symbol — one hand forming a “V,” the other pointing toward it — means, “Nosotros venceremos,” or “Together we will win,” according to experts on Chavismo, the political movement named for Hugo Chávez, Mr. Maduro’s predecessor. It is a phrase that has long been used by leftist revolutionary movements in Latin America, including Cuba’s, to signal the triumph over oppression.
Mr. Maduro and his wife were removed from Venezuela in a stunning military operation, the culmination of a monthslong pressure campaign on the leader by the Trump administration. The removal was met with seeming shock and outrage by Venezuela’s government: Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who has since been named interim leader, demanded proof of life and denounced the act as a “barbarity.”
Ms. Rodríguez later tempered her tone, but the session in Venezuela’s National Assembly showed that loyal legislators, who far outnumber the opposition, remain defiant.
On social media, the repeated gesture quickly spread, with some claiming that it visually resembled Mr. Chavez’s signature, which after his death in 2013 became a ubiquitous symbol, including in tattoos.
One lawmaker who made the gesture was Jorge Rodríguez, who was ratified as president of the National Assembly at the same session in which his sister, Ms. Rodríguez, was sworn in as the country’s interim leader.
Mr. Rodríguez, a trained psychiatrist and a key figure in Mr. Maduro’s inner circle, made the sign several times, including when Mr. Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, a legislator, nominated him as president of the legislative body for the coming term.
When those in the room — and the cameras — turned toward Mr. Rodríguez, he first raised a fist in the air, then made the same “V” gesture Mr. Maduro had, along with a thumbs up. The sequence appeared to be a homage to, or a call and response, with Mr. Maduro, who was by then about 2,000 miles away.
That morning, Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were being arraigned in federal court in Manhattan. An empty chair sat in the chamber for Ms. Flores, who is also a legislator.
Supporters celebrated the moment and Venezuela’s main state-run television outlet, VTV, called Mr. Maduro’s gesture a “potent symbol of dignity and courage” and a “sign of peace and victory.”
Critics, however, dismissed the gestures as hollow.
Mr. Maduro, his wife and their son are facing newly unveiled charges related to drug trafficking and enrichment, alongside two senior officials and an alleged leader of the Venezuelan-born drug gang, Tren de Aragua.
Many Venezuelans also blame Mr. Maduro’s government for causing a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis that has driven millions to flee the country, as well as for a crackdown on dissent that has left hundreds of political prisoners behind bars.
Sheyla Urdaneta contributed reporting.
Annie Correal is a Times reporter covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
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