A cacerolazo or cacerolada is a form of popular protest practised in certain Spanish-speaking countries – in particular Argentina, Chile and Uruguay – which consists in a group of people creating noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils in order to call for attention. What is peculiar about this type of demonstration is that the people protest from their own homes, thus achieving a high level of support and participation.^{[citation needed]}

The word comes from Spanish cacerola, which means "stew pot". The derivative suffix -azo denotes a hitting (punching or striking) action, and has been extended metaphorically to any sort of shock demonstration.^{[citation needed]} This type of manifestation started in 1971 in Chile, against the shortages of industrial products during the administration of Salvador Allende.^{[citation needed]}

Cacerolazos began in Chile in 1971 in protest at shortages during the Salvador Allende administration. By 1973 they had become commonplace as protests against the administration intensified amid increasing shortages. After Augusto Pinochet seized power in 1973 cacerolazos disappeared for a time until the economic crisis of 1982-83 set in. Thereafter cacerolazos continued up until the Pinochet regime lost a plebiscite in 1988 that put him out of office two years later.

Nicolás Maduro Moros (born 23 November 1962 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan politician who was appointed foreign minister by President Hugo Chávez on 9 August 2006.

Nicolas Maduro began his political career as a bus driver and unofficial trade-unionist representing the workers of the Caracas Metro system in the 1970s and 1980s (back then, unions within the Metro company were not allowed). He finished high school in the Liceo Avalos, a public high-school west of Caracas during the '80 (El Valle neighborhood), but lacks any university or further education. He is considered one of the founders of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), but his biggest political accomplishment was as activist for the release of Hugo Chávez from prison, and later as one of this regional political coordinators during the 1998 presidential race. Maduro was elected on the MVR ticket to the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies in 1998, to the National Constituent Assembly in 1999, and to the National Assembly in 2000 and 2005, representing the Capital District. The legislature elected him Speaker of the Assembly, even though he did not have a college degree or formal education. He held that position from 2005 until the first half of 2006. Maduro is married to Cilia Flores, herself a prominent figure within the MVR. She replaced Maduro as Speaker of assembly.