Venezuelan Exiles in Florida Celebrate Maduro's Ouster Amid Uncertainty

Mon Jan 05 2026 04:03:28 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Celebrations erupted in Doral, Florida, among Venezuelans celebrating the U.S. military's successful operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, igniting hope for political change back home. However, many are left pondering the future of Venezuela as they express their mixed emotions of joy and apprehension.

On Saturday, Venezuelan exiles in Doral, Florida, celebrated the capture and ousting of Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. military, proclaiming their desire for freedom with chants of 'Liberty!' The event, held just outside a cultural hub for the Venezuelan community, highlighted the mixture of joy and uncertainty among those hopeful for a better future in their homeland. President Trump has stated that the U.S. will temporarily run Venezuela, aiming to stabilize the nation after years of turmoil and crisis.

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Revelers chanted “liberty” and draped Venezuelan flags over their shoulders in South Florida on Saturday to celebrate the American military attack that toppled Nicolás Maduro’s government — a stunning outcome they had longed for but left them wondering what comes next in their troubled homeland.

People gathered for a rally in Doral, Florida — 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 president had been captured and flown out of the country.

Outside the El Arepazo restaurant, a hub of the Venezuelan culture in 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.”

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.

Niurka Meléndez, who fled her native Venezuela in 2015, expressed hope that Maduro’s ouster will improve life in her homeland. Meléndez co-founded Venezuelans and Immigrants Aid in New York City, where she is striving to empower the lives of immigrants while advocating for political change back home.

Her homeland had reached a 'breaking point' due to forced displacements, repression, hunger, and fear, creating a need for international humanitarian support.

“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.”