On a Thursday in downtown Caracas, thousands of public sector employees, union representatives and retired Venezuelans took to the streets, heading toward the Miraflores presidential palace to demand living wages and adequate, dignified pensions. Their demonstration was met with heavy police resistance, as National Security forces had pre-deployed across key downtown routes to block the protesters’ advance. The confrontation marked a sharp public rebuke of the interim government’s economic policies, coming just 24 hours after acting President Delcy Rodríguez addressed the nation on live television to call for worker patience amid ongoing efforts to rebuild Venezuela’s collapsed economy.