LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Venezuelans living in Los Angeles are sharing different opinions on the capture of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
While some people rallied in the rain, protesting what they call a U.S. invasion, just miles away, Venezuelan families celebrated what they hope is the end of decades of dictatorship.
Unión del Barrio, the Community Self-Defense Coalition and other local organizations hosted a rally on Saturday to condemn President Donald Trump’s invasion and takeover of Venezuela.
At the top of the list of their demands was that the U.S. free Maduro. They called Trump’s threat of the U.S. controlling Venezuela a “psychological war.”
Participants gathered downtown for a rally to condemn the U.S. invasion and takeover of Venezuela. It was one of many rallies under the same name across the country on Saturday.
In the rain, chants echoed through Pershing Square in South L.A. on Saturday.
“We absolutely condemn the brutal assault and the kidnapping that the criminal U.S. government is doing right now, you know, one of the things we should demand is Trump be jailed and we free Maduro,” said John Parker with the Harriett Tubman Center for Social Justice.
Demonstrators say the operation, which the Trump administration describes as a move to stop drug trafficking, risks another long war.
“We are past the point, and the U.S. administration is past the point of trying to manufacture consent for this war,” said Sister Diana with the Palestinian Youth Movement.
“What happens when the U.S. has tried these attempts all over the world? The people rise up. And they will rise up again,” said Ron Gochez with Unión del Barrio.
Meanwhile, inside some local Venezuelan restaurants, Angelenos expressed relief and happiness. Some explained why they prefer uncertainty over the country’s future compared to Maduro’s rule. Many were optimistic about the future.
Maria Koftayan, who fled Venezuela with her family just eight years ago, says friends and family back home are celebrating something she thought she’d never see.
“They’re actually very happy. Everybody is celebrating everywhere. People are actually going out in the streets. It’s amazing,” Koftayan said. “I lived my whole life in dictatorship. I don’t know what life looks like outside of dictatorship… It will be incredible to see what the country is going to look like now.”
But with their home country in transition, Venezuelans in Southern California feel torn between fear and hope, not knowing what the future of their country is under U.S. control for the time being.
“It is uncertain, but whatever happens is going to be better than what it was. That’s what everybody is thinking. Like, nothing can be worse than what they were going through before this happened,” said Koftayan. “Now we have María Corina Machado. Everybody has their trust in her, and she’s doing great. She just got the Nobel Peace Prize, and she just keeps going, and she is actually doing what she promised. She said, ‘I am going to help Venezuela become free.’ And we see it. It’s not just words; we see actions.”
“I think it was the only option we really had, seeing as Venezuela people are not allowed to own guns or protect themselves, and we couldn’t really fight against them, against the regime in Venezuela,” said Wilkins Salas, who was raised in Venezuela. “So the only option was an intervention from the U.S., so we really support what Donald Trump has done.”
“Why we are so happy? Because we’ve been in jail for so many years. We’ve been, in this country, my country, in Venezuela… there’s no food. He controls everything. We’ve been controlled by these people, not only him,” said Yesika Baker, the owner of Chamo. “We cry because now, somebody does something. This president is the first president to do something. We don’t know what is going to happen, but at least this is the first step. It’s hope for every Venezuelan, this is a hope.”
“Every single Venezuelan waited 30 years for this moment — 30 years,” Baker continued.
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Eyewitness News also spoke to Professor Miguel Tinker Salas from Pomona College. He’s also a Venezuelan historian.
Tinker Salas calls the Trump administration’s actions illegal, saying they violate the Constitution.
“Venezuelans don’t want to be governed by the U.S. They don’t want to be governed by Rubio and Hegseth. They want to be governed by Venezuelans. The reality is they may be opposed to Maduro, but they are not in favor of a foreign power intervening in their country and governing their country and taking their resources, which is what the president has said the U.S. wants to do. And we have heard this story before. We heard in Iraq under the Bush administration that the Iraqi oil would pay for the intervention. Now, we’re hearing from Trump that the Venezuelan oil will pay for the U.S. intervention. And it was an intervention,” he said. “The use of 150 aircraft, the use of Delta Forces, the use of DEA forces, the use of FBI forces.”
Tinker Salas says he believes the Trump administration has no understanding of Venezuela and the ramifications the actions will have across Latin America.
“I think there’s a big distinction between those who supported Maduro and those who are against U.S. intervention. There is a strong tendency in Venezuela, a strong trend, a strong position in Venezuela, to be critical of Maduro, to want his ouster, but to be against the U.S. intervention. This creates a wound in Venezuelan society that will not heal overnight,” Tinker Salas said.
“This was an armed incursion, invasion of a country. Let’s not mince words about it. The president can call it whatever he wants. This was an armed invasion of a foreign country by U.S. military forces. They can kidnap a president, but they don’t control the country. The real issue here is, what will be the future of Venezuela? And what is best for Venezuelans?” he said. “Once the party is over, what happens to the country? What happens to the people? What happens to its resources? Who controls them? Venezuela has the largest deposit of oil in the world. I was saying for a long time, ‘This is not about oil.’ Turns out I was wrong. Trump proved me wrong. It is about oil. It is about power. It is about U.S. hegemony. It is about keeping Russia and China out, and that’s what this is about.”
As this plays out, families in Southern California are waiting for answers. With nearly 10,000 Venezuelans living in L.A. County, many are left wondering if this moment finally means it’s safe to return home, or if more unrest is still ahead.
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