DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Revelers chanted “liberty” and draped Venezuelan flags over their shoulders in South Florida on Saturday to celebrate the U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and remove him from the country — a stunning outcome they had longed for but left them wondering what comes next in their troubled homeland.
For some Venezuelan natives, the military action — culminating months of stepped-up U.S. pressure — brought their dreams of reuniting with loved ones closer to reality after years of heartbreaking separations.
People gathered for a rally in Doral — the Miami suburb where President Donald Trump has a golf resort and where roughly half the population is of Venezuelan descent — as word spread that Venezuela’s now-deposed president had been captured and flown out of the country.
Outside El Arepazo restaurant, a hub of the Venezuelan culture of Doral, one man held a piece of cardboard with “Libertad” scrawled with a black marker. It was a sentiment expressed by other native Venezuelans hoping for a new beginning for their home country as they chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”
“We’re like everybody — it’s a combination of feelings, of course,” said Alejandra Arrieta, who came to the U.S. in 1997. “There’s fears. There’s excitement. There’s so many years that we’ve been waiting for this. Something had to happen in Venezuela. We all need the freedom.”
Some Venezuelan exiles feel hopeful after US actions
For David Nuñez, the regime change offered hope for a long-awaited reunion with loved ones.
Nuñez said he fled to the United States six years ago after being persecuted in Venezuela for his political activism and has not seen his daughters — ages 8 and 17 — since then.
“The most important thing is that we’re going to be able to be with our families soon,” Nuñez said. “At least for me, I haven’t seen my daughters in six years so I have a lot of mixed feelings. I’ve cried a lot. I’m really happy because I know that I’m going to be able to return to Venezuela very soon.”
Trump insisted Saturday that the U.S. government would run the country at least temporarily and was already doing so. The action marked the culmination of an escalating Trump administration pressure campaign on the oil-rich South American nation as well as weeks of planning that tracked Maduro’s behavioral habits.
After Trump’s press conference about U.S. actions in Venezuela, people still gathered outside of the Doral restaurant sang, danced and waved flags. A percussionist drummed along with the singing crowd.
People started gathering outside the restaurant once the news broke. Cooks were told to stay and prepare more food for anticipated high demand. Hundreds showed up, and the crowd kept growing as the day went on.
Some say Maduro’s ouster was long awaited
Alexa Perez said she has waited year for this moment.
“Thanks, President Trump. This is our second liberty. This our independence day from today on,” Perez said.
She married a week ago and said the news was the “best wedding gift” possible.
Her husband, Aldo Amenta, said they were scared, excited and confused at first and felt better when they learned their family members were safe.
“We’re really happy and excited that the doors are open for Venezuela, for all of our people who deserve a chance,” Amenta said.
Perez responded positively to apparent U.S. plans to run Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations, saying her homeland has not received anything from Russia, Iran and China.
“We are very poor, we have no hospital, we have no rights for our people,” Perez said. “So I think this is going to be a great transition. Because once you know how the U.S. works, you know that everything can work better.”
The Venezuelan diaspora grew over decades
About 8 million people have fled the country since 2014, settling first in neighboring countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. After the COVID-19 pandemic, they increasingly set their sights on the United States, walking through the jungle in Colombia and Panama or flying to the U.S. on humanitarian parole with a financial sponsor.
In South Florida, deep-seated concerns in the Venezuelan community about Trump’s tough immigration policies gave way to celebrations after Maduro was deposed in the American military operation early Saturday.
In Doral, upper-middle-class professionals and entrepreneurs came to invest in property and businesses when socialist Hugo Chávez won the presidency in the late 1990s. They were followed by political opponents and entrepreneurs who set up small businesses. In recent years, more lower-income Venezuelans have come for work in service industries.
They are doctors, lawyers, beauticians, construction workers and house cleaners. Some are naturalized U.S. citizens or live in the country illegally with U.S.-born children. Others overstay tourist visas, seek asylum or have some form of temporary status.
‘Not a guarantee, but a possibility, for recovery’
Niurka Meléndez, who fled from Venezuela in 2015, said Saturday she’s hopeful that Maduro’s ouster will improve life in her homeland. Meléndez immigrated to New York City, where she co-founded the group Venezuelans and Immigrants Aid, which strives to empower the lives of immigrants. She became a steadfast advocate for change in her home country, where she said her countrymen faced a humanitarian crisis.
Now, she hopes those hardships will fade away.
“For us, it’s just the start of the justice we need to see,” Meléndez said in a phone interview.
Her homeland had reached a “breaking point” due to forced displacements, repression, hunger and fear, she said. Now there’s a need for international humanitarian support to help in Venezuela’s recovery.
“Removing an authoritarian system responsible for these crimes creates the possibility, not a guarantee, but a possibility, for recovery,” she said. “A future without criminal control over institutions is the minimum condition for rebuilding a country based on justice, rule of law, and democratic safeguards.”
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Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky.