DORAL, FL. When they heard the news, they walked out in the middle of the night, some still in their pajamas, and joined a crowd of revelers waving Venezuelan flags and dancing, singing and crying.
“Thank you, Lord, thank you, President of the United States. I waited for years – he did so much damage. It was terrible,” said Yajaira, a Venezuelan-American from the city of Maracaibo.
News that the US attacked Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife staged a spontaneous celebration in front of the El Arepazo restaurant in Doral, a city in Miami-Dade County nicknamed “Doralzuela” because it highest concentration of Venezuelans in the USA
“We've been here eight years, eight years now,” Yajaira said, referring to how long she's been in the US. “They killed my older brother. It was so hard. They kidnapped my brothers. It was hard. I thank God for all of this because it was hard,” she said, her voice cracking as she looked up at the sky.
All morning, a growing crowd in Doral chanted in Spanish, “Government is over, government has fallen,” to the sound of car horns and music.
Venezuelans began flocking to Florida and the United States in large numbers in the early 2000s after socialist Hugo Chavez came to power. The situation worsened dramatically when Maduro came to power in 2013. faced a decade-long crash and an estimated 80% of residents live in poverty. Some 8 million Venezuelans fled under his rule.
President Donald Trump said the US is “going to govern” Venezuela after Maduro's takeover “until there is a safe, proper and reasonable transition.” He said Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as president; she called for the release of Maduro.
Diana Monert, also celebrating in Doral, was asked what recent events mean for Venezuelans. “Freedom,” she said.
Relief and jubilation spread to other parts of the country. In Cincinnati, Rosalie Navas, 43, a property manager, said: “My heart is pounding – this is the greatest miracle that has happened in my life… I have spent so many hours without sleep and I really want to do my part in rebuilding my country.”
Questions about what happens next
Amid relief among some Venezuelan-Americans that Maduro is no longer in power, questions and concerns have arisen about what will happen next, with some noting that other senior Venezuelan officials have not been captured.
A young man celebrating in front of El Arepazo, who did not want to give his name because he was worried about his family in Venezuela, said it was “the greatest day we have been waiting for… I am very happy. We have been waiting for the end of this dictatorship.”
When asked how his family is doing in Venezuela, he replied: “They are excited, but at the same time they are afraid, they are waiting to see what will happen – and what the next step will be.”
Patricia Andrade, who helps newly arrived migrants through her nonprofit Raices Venezolanas in Miami, says she has mixed feelings.
“I spent years waiting for the Chavez-Maduro regime to fall,” she said.
While she was thrilled to see Maduro in U.S. custody, she said many more Venezuelan officials remain to be arrested.
Adelis Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, a grassroots group working to amplify the voices of Venezuelan Americans and their issues in the U.S., said she is celebrating that “justice is taking its course and that Maduro is being held accountable for all the crimes he has committed.”
But she warned that “Venezuela is still not free from Chavismo,” referring to the government's socialist rule installed by Chavez. “I hope that the innocent, good people in Venezuela, who are the majority, will be protected,” she said.
Ferro added that she hopes that “Trump understands that Venezuelans here in the US have also fled and need protection. Now is not the time for more attacks and persecution of Venezuelan immigrants. These people fled a dictatorship, and they are not Tren de Aragua.”
Ferro noted that more than 6 in 10 Venezuelans in the United States received Temporary Protected Status, which the Trump administration rescinded. She also called on Trump to recognize the need for bipartisan support for Venezuelans. “We need support at this critical moment,” she said.
“Something was coming”
In Venezuela, a resident who did not want to be named for his own safety said: “We had different assumptions that something would happen, Trump had already announced something,” adding that the events reminded them of the novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold by the late writer Gabriel García Márquez.
Speaking hours after the attack, the Venezuelan said “nobody supports invasion and violence, but we also don't support people who didn't win the election,” referring to Maduro, who remained in power. despite credible evidence that his opponent won the 2024 election..
“We are humble citizens – we were caught. How is it possible that they took the president and his wife? Did someone betray him? There is so much uncertainty and so much fear,” the resident said. “I’m really impressed that they just took him.”
Yanir Lucas, resident of Caracas, told the Associated Press she was afraid to even leave the house. “What’s happening is unprecedented,” Lucas said. “We're still on edge and now we don't know what to do. Stay safe at home, go out and look for food? I don't know.”
Trump's announcement that the US will “run” Venezuela opens up many questions about what will happen in the next few days and months.
But in Doral, before the president's remarks, Yajaira was asked what message she would like to convey to other Venezuelans in the wake of the U.S. attack and Maduro's takeover.
“Be strong, yes you can [yes we can]”,” Yajaira said. “We are going to become a free, prosperous country.”
