- The U.S. capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last Saturday has triggered celebrations and protests worldwide.
- Pro-Maduro protests in U.S. cities were allegedly coordinated by several nonprofits that have received about $7 million in funding since 2020.
- Scrutiny has focused on ties between protest organizers, major donors and individuals accused of advancing foreign propaganda.
President Donald Trump announced last Saturday that U.S. forces had captured and brought Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the United States to face charges.
In a Manhattan courtroom on Monday, Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were charged with four federal crimes including drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy.
Crowds of Venezuelans worldwide, including many of the eight million who have left the country since 2014, celebrated the leader’s removal in the streets.
After Maduro was captured, protesters in the United States, who accuse the U.S. of colonialism and violating international law, have launched marches and gatherings in New York City and other major metropolitan areas.
Trump, during his remarks at the House GOP Retreat on Tuesday, referenced the pro-Maduro movement and questioned if the protests are funded.
“You know they’re paid when they have brand new, beautiful, printed signs by the highest quality printer,” Trump said. “I want to find out who that is (who prints the signs). I want them to work for the Republican campaign.”
Investigative journalists at the Washington Examiner and the City Journal looked into who is funding the protests.
The Washington Examiner pointed to three U.S.-based nonprofits as main protest coordinators: CODEPINK, the Answer Coalition and The People’s Forum. Within just several hours of the U.S. flying out of Venezuela with its president, each group publicly condemned U.S. involvement.
Analysis of tax filings found that the groups have jointly received about $7 million in funding since 2020, with the majority going to The People’s Forum.
The People’s Forum received $5,071,350, Answer Coalition received $197,756, and CODEPINK received $1,705,875.
Notable donors included the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation; Justice And Education Fund, a wealth redistributionist group; and the France-based Good Planet Foundation.
It also appears as though the three activist groups donate to each other.
Jodie Evans, a CODEPINK co-founder and president of People’s Support Foundation, was the “single largest donor recorded in public disclosures,” giving $5 million in 2024 to The People’s Forum.
Evans has ties to the Chinese government, through her husband Neville Roy Singham, who she married in 2017. Singham is the founder and former chairman of an IT consulting company that sold for $785 million about a decade ago.
A New York Times investigation found Singham at the center of a campaign in the U.S. defending China. “Mr. Singham works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide,” the Times wrote.
The Times piece also recounted Singham vocalizing admiration for Venezuela’s former socialist president, Hugo Chávez, saying the country was a “phenomenally democratic place.”
City Journal looked into The People’s Forum in regard to its involvement in pro-Maduro protests that quickly mobilized last weekend.
The activist group describes its Manhattan location, which is located just west of the Empire State Building, as a “movement incubator for working class and marginalized communities,” home to more than 200 politically left groups. Accompanying its art space, which is “ideal for art builds, poster making, screen printing,” the Forum has also hosted political poster-making workshops.
The Forum’s executive director Manolo De Los Santos spoke at a protest in New York City the same day Maduro was captured. Standing in front of a Venezuelan flag, De Los Santos asked the crowd what right the U.S. had to take Maduro into custody. De Los Santos also met with Maduro in 2021, during the country’s regional elections.