"Venezuela needs Nicolas," chanted the crowd, a month to the day since he was violently toppled and whisked away to stand trial on drug charges in New York.

Interim president Delcy Rodriguez has been walking a tightrope since then, amid continued threats by Donald Trump's administration.

Several demonstrators, many of them public sector workers, held photos of Maduro and of his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also seized in the US raid.

Donald Trump Trump begs House to pass spending bill to end government shutdown: "There can be NO CHANGES"

The march, called by the government, stretched for several hundred meters, accompanied by trucks blaring music.

"These people are not American," said Maduro's son, Nicolas "Nicolasito" Maduro Guerra, a deputy in Venezuela's National Assembly.

"We have achieved a profound anti-imperialist consciousness."

Many protesters waved Venezuelan flags and were dressed in the red colors of the ruling "Chavista" movement named after Maduro's socialist predecessor, Hugo Chavez.

"We feel confused, sad, angry. There are a lot of emotions," said Jose Perdomo, a 58-year-old municipal employee who also declared his backing "for the decisions taken by our interim president, Delcy Rodriguez."

He added that "sooner or later they will have to free our president."

Trump has said he is willing to work with Rodriguez her as long as she accepts what amounts to US imperial rule, particularly on granting access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves.

Rodriguez has also started freeing political prisoners and opened Venezuela's nationalized hydrocarbons industry to private investment.

Under the shadow of Trump's threats of more violence, the countries have rekindled diplomatic relations, with American envoy Laura Dogu's arrival in Caracas on Saturday.

Donald Trump Trump administration suffers another legal loss over wind projects

On Tuesday, in a video issued by the US mission, she pointed to a three-phase plan ending in "the transition to a friendly, stable, prosperous and democratic Venezuela."

Rodriguez confirmed the meeting, calling it a "frank conversation."

Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of university students and relatives of political prisoners also marched in the capital, calling for the quick approval of an amnesty law promised by Rodriguez.

The law has not yet come before parliament, whose leader is the acting president's brother, Jorge Rodriguez.