Many Venezuelans in Massachusetts are celebrating the U.S. military action that removed embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from government.
But Maduro’s rip from power doesn’t necessarily usher in the economic peace and democratic stability many Venezuelans want. And many Venezuelans in New England are anxious about what comes next, looking at the history of other American attacks in Latin America or even the Bush administration’s invasion into Iraq.
“It’s a moment that people have been waiting for. And it brought a lot of relief to people who’ve been watching Venezuela, the debilitation, the deterioration of a country and its people,” said Nathalie Rayes. She was born in Venezuela and lived in Massachusetts for nearly a decade. She still owns a home here, though she now lives outside the state. “But it also brings uncertainty, removing the dictator. Maduro has been there for years now. This does not automatically restore the country or its democracy.”
Rayes was the ambassador to Croatia under President Joe Biden.
She’s wary, though, about the fact that Trump did not acquire Congressional approval to make the military strike. She is looking to ensure a pathway to democracy for the Venezuelan people.
“I hope this is about democracy. Venezuela became a rogue state, a mass security concern for the whole region. You know very bad actors were contributing to Venezuela ... from North Korea to Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Russia — I mean, you name it,” said Rayes. “This is about regional security as well. So I think that we have to put that in context. And we have also put, this was a pretty bad person. Nicolás Maduro is a bad character, is a person that needs to be behind bars.”
Maduro declared himself the victor of the 2024 presidential election despite evidence that he didn’t have the votes. He’s repeatedly been accused of drug trafficking involvement and severe humanitarian rights violations, like arbitrary detentions and restrictions on civil rights. On Saturday, the Trump administration announced it had conducted a military strike and taken Maduro and his wife, and were bringing them to stand trial for criminal charges in the U.S.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president this week.
Trump said over the weekend that the United States would run Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” He also said American oil companies would become involved with petroleum infrastructure oversight there.
“Imagine living in limbo stage where a dictator, where a third- party, the United States — the most powerful country in the world — comes into sovereign territory. You know, explosions are happening. People get killed. Leader of the country gets removed — and then what happens?” asked Rayes.
Julio Henríquez is a Boston attorney originally from Venezuela.
He said short of a “civil war,” there had been no way for Venezuelans to oust Maduro and “military aid from a foreign power was the only way out.”
But the attack doesn’t sit right with him. “I feel tremendously uncomfortable with the idea that this is right. I don’t think it is,” he said.
He noted Maduro’s administration is still in power, and 14 journalists were arrested trying to cover the National Assembly Monday.
“For daily life in Venezuela, for going back to democracy, for respect for human rights and for honoring the victims of human rights and finding justice for the victims of human right violations over all these years, I don’t think we’re even a single step closer to that,” he said.
Henríquez said the moment echoes back to many U.S. invasions of Latin American countries and the poor consequences of those. In December 1989, under the orders of then President George H.W. Bush, nearly 30,000 soldiers attacked Panama during an operation that led to the detainment of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. At least 500 civilians and soldiers were killed during the invasion. Then the U.S. supported opposition party leader Guillermo Endara as president.
Some local Venezuelans are upset that Maduro was seized at all. Hector Figarella supports the Bolivarian Revolution, the socialist movement begun by deceased President Hugo Chávez and continued by Maduro under the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Figarella, an activist based out of Northampton, said the country saw significant economic gains under Chávez that floundered during the sanctions on the country from Trump during his first term. Figarella says the sanctions impacted his family’s ability to get medicine for his father, who died of a massive blood clot in his heart in 2017.
He questions why fellow Venezuelans are cheering the end of Maduro’s reign, and considers the operation a violation of international law.
“They’re in a very sad way cheering this event as a positive event even though more than 80 people were murdered on January 3rd by the United States government, an illegal intervention in a sovereign nation,” Figarella said. He was referring to the confirmed 32, but rumored 80, individuals killed during the U.S. operation to seize Maduro last weekend.
Figarella is in Ciudad Bolívar visiting family. He says there have been protests and marches in most cities.
“The mood has been at first very, very hectic. People were very frantic,” he said. “Right now, the mood seems pretty calm. People are going about their days. When you go out, things seem pretty normal, but there’s this uneasy feeling that nobody knows what’s going to happen next, especially since people are following the situation closely and United States President Trump is threatening with a second attack.”
Rayes says her friends in Venezuela have been stocking up on food, not knowing what will happen next.
The White House has repeatedly claimed it is ending the flow of fentanyl by striking alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. The majority of fentanyl smuggled into the U.S., however, originates in Mexico and China.
Figarella believes the bedrock of the U.S. intervention is oil and mineral usage.
“It’s about going in there, enriching U.S. companies and taking the oil that rightly belongs to the Venezuelan people,” he said. “Unfortunately, Venezuela happens to have all of these amazing resources, but United States government doesn’t believe in paying a fair price.”
Creating false reasons for military action like the extraction of Maduro, he said, reminds him of the war in Iraq, where weapons of mass destruction were never found despite being used as the impetus for U.S intervention.
