VENEZUELANS joined an international day of prayer to call for the United States to release the country’s President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

The initiative brought together participants across the world in community spaces and digital platforms to express solidarity and demand the freedom of the two leaders who were illegally detained by the US after an unprovoked attack on January 3 during which 100 people were killed.

Gatherings, promoting peace and solidarity, reportedly took place across Latin America, Europe and the US.

The organisers said the mobilisation on Sunday demonstrated Venezuela’s commitment to peace among followers of the Bolivarian project in the country and abroad.

President Maduro and Ms Flores, who are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York, are facing charges linked to alleged drug trafficking.

According to a report by Spanish newspaper ABC, President Maduro is confined to a cell which is about three metres long by just under two metres wide containing only a metal bed, a toilet, a small sink, and a narrow window.

He is only allowed to leave the cell three times a week for an hour.