Venezuela is struggling with 2,400 percent inflation and US sanctions under Trump. Would Biden be different?
Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra says his interest in politics comes from his father, the president.
For most of his life, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s only son has lived quietly in the shadow of his father, trying to dedicate himself to music even as he took tentative steps into politics.
But Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra is now stepping further into the political spotlight. He is campaigning for a seat in Venezuela’s congress, the last institution that had been out of the governing socialist party’s grasp, in a Sunday election that the US and dozens of other countries see as a move by his father to tighten an illegitimate grip on power.
The 30-year-old politico – commonly called “Nicolasito“, or Little Nicolas – spoke with The Associated Press news agency ahead of the vote about life with his father, as well as denying US allegations of corruption.
Supporters of Nicolas Maduro Guerra, son of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, participate in a political rally to show their support, as the president’s son campaigns for a spot in the National Assembly for the upcoming December 6 midterm elections [Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo]
Maduro Guerra, the president’s son from his first marriage, studied economics in college, but his lifelong passion has been music as an accomplished flute player.
He is running for a congressional seat representing the coastal region of La Guaira, home to Venezuela’s main international airport just outside the capital of Caracas. He and his stepmother, First Lady Cicilia Flores, were nominated as candidates for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Nicolas Maduro Guerra said his interest in politics was sparked while he was a student at the governmental National Experimental Polytechnic University of the Bolivarian Armed Forces [Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo]
Until his father became president in 2013, the younger Maduro participated in the governing party’s wing and also served as director of the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs.
He said his interest in politics was sparked while he was a student at the governmental National Experimental Polytechnic University of the Bolivarian Armed Forces.
Nicolas Maduro Guerra is running for a congressional seat representing the coastal region of La Guaira, home to Venezuela’s main international airport just outside the capital of Caracas [Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo]
In his first year in that body, the son became the target of ridicule after countering President Donald Trump’s suggestion of military force to overthrow the elder Maduro. “The rifles would reach New York, Mr Trump,” Maduro Guerra said. “We would arrive and take the White House.”
Nicolas Maduro Guerra said he is close with his father, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and described his upbringing as modest [Arian Cubillos/AP Photo]
Maduro Guerra said he is close with his father and described his upbringing as modest.
“He was always there for me,” the son said. “I have always been there for him.”
His parents separated when he was two years old, and Maduro Guerra said he decided at a young age to live with his father. He said his father encouraged him to pursue baseball rather than music, but he recalled sneaking off the field to practice the flute.
The last two months of campaigning have pulled him away from music, he said, adding that he plays now only when his two young daughters beg him for a tune.
His interest in politics came from his father, he said.
“That happened because of the fact of always being with my father and watching him in action,” Maduro Guerra said.
Nicolas Maduro Guerra was elected to the National Constituent Assembly in 2017, a legislative body created by Maduro’s government to circumvent the National Assembly the opposition-controlled congress [Arian Cubillos/AP Photo]
Denying that charge, Minister of Higher Education Cesar Trompiz said he thinks of Maduro Guerra as the disciplined and creative young man he has known as a friend for years. There is no substance to the attacks from Washington, Trompiz said.
“We often ask ourselves, ‘Where are all the things he has?’ to see if we can enjoy them, too,” Trompiz quipped. “In reality, they write a lot of garbage about him in the press.”
With an almost assured congressional win come claims that Maduro Guerra is being groomed as the heir to his father, just as the elder Maduro was hand-picked by the dying President Hugo Chavez to be his successor. It also raises claims of nepotism.
“Sometimes people will say that,” the son said. “I don’t have any aspirations. My aspirations is to serve.”