Flee Venezuela ‘immediately’

• Trump signs order to protect US-held revenue from Venezuela oil
   
• Venezuelan govt courts US, gradually frees prisoners
   
• Maduro ‘doing well’ in US jail: son

The US State Department on Saturday urged Americans in Venezuela to leave the country “immediately,” citing risks from armed militias searching vehicles for US citizens at roadblocks.

“The security situation in Venezuela remains fluid,” the department said in a security alert, one week after the country’s leader Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces in a lightning raid.

“As international flights have resumed, US citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately,” it said, warning of armed militias called colectivos searching cars for Americans or evidence of US support.

Several hundred supporters of Maduro staged protests in the capital Saturday as the interim government moved to revive ties with Washington and slowly released some prisoners.

Waving flags and placards with the face of the mustachioed ex-leader and his wife Cilia, around 1,000 protesters rallied in the west of Caracas and a few hundred in the eastern Petare district -- far smaller than demonstrations Maduro’s camp has mustered in the past.

Notably absent from the rallies were top figures from the government, which has said it is reviving diplomatic contact with Washington and discussing possible cooperation on US President Donald Trump’s oil demands, reports AFP.

Interim president Delcy Rodriguez instead attended an agricultural fair, where she vowed in televised comments she would “not rest for a minute until we have our president back.”

The other two hardline powers in the government, Interior Minister and street enforcer Diosdado Cabello, and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, were also not seen at the demos.

Trump has signed an executive order protecting US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, the White House said on Saturday.

In an order signed Friday, Trump -- who has made clear that tapping Venezuela’s vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ouster of Maduro -- is acting “to advance US foreign policy objectives,” the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order.

In Caracas, anxious relatives meanwhile camped outside jails, awaiting the promised release of political prisoners.

Prisoners’ rights groups and the opposition said only 21 people had been released by Saturday evening, including several prominent opposition figures. Rights groups estimate there are 800 to 1,200 political prisoners in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Maduro claimed he was “doing well” in jail, his son Nicolas Maduro Guerra said in a video released Saturday by his party.

Despite the shock of his capture during deadly nighttime raids on January 3, signs emerged Friday of cooperation with Washington after Trump’s claim to be “in charge” of the South American country.

Rodriguez said Venezuela would deal with the United States through “the diplomatic route,” and Washington said, US envoys visited Caracas on Friday to discuss reopening their embassy.

The Venezuelan government did not respond when asked by AFP whether the US officials had met with Rodriguez.