The gal on ST Talks quoted a Venezuela immigrant who explains what’s happening in Venezuela from her point of view.
“If you are American and are curious as to why Trump forced Maduro out, you should read this first; an analysis by a Venezuelan who left Venezuela … in 2013 when Hugo Chavez died, and Nicholas Maduro took power. I didn’t leave because I wanted to try life abroad. I left because I could see what was coming and staying meant watching my future shrink year after year.
So when Americans ask, ‘What do Venezuelans think about Trump forcing Maduro out of the presidency?’ Let me answer that question honestly without slogans, without moral theater, and without pretending this is simple. Most Venezuelans feel relief. Not because we love Trump or because we believe the US does things out of pure love for freedom and not because we are naïve about geopolitics, oil or power. We feel relief because we have lived through something Americans have never experienced: a country where money stops being money and where time itself feels broken.
Now, before someone jumps in to say, ‘But not all Venezuelans agree,’ … there is a minority that doesn’t agree. And that minority usually falls into one of three groups: some were doing business with the regime, some were personally comfortable inside the system and insulated from its worst consequences, and some were pushed into such extreme poverty that survival depended on obedience. Millions of Venezuelans were reduced to depending on a government issued food box; a box with rice, pasta, oil - sometimes expired food. A box that arrived irregularly. A box that was used as leverage. People were told explicitly or implicitly ‘if the government falls, this goes away.’ That is hostage psychology. When misery reaches that level, people don’t defend the system because they believe in it. They defend it because they are afraid of losing the only thing standing between them and hunger. So yes, some people opposed change, but that opposition was not free, informed, or dignified. It was coerced by collapse.
Since Maduro took power back in 2013 Venezuela lost roughly 80% of its economy. We lived through years of hyperinflation where prices didn’t rise monthly or yearly; they rose daily, sometimes hourly. Salaries became meaningless. Pensions became symbolic. Entire professions disappeared. We protested. We marched. Thousands of people got killed and tens of thousands more were illegally incarcerated as political prisoners; just because they didn’t like Chavez or Maduro. We also voted because we believe in democracy. In 2015, the regime lost parliament by a massive margin. The result was ignored. We voted again in 2024. The opposition won overwhelmingly; roughly 70 to 30. The result was ignored. Imagine winning every swing state in the US and then being told no.
This is not politics and still we didn’t rise in arms. We tried to stay constitutional, peaceful, and legal. During all this time, around a third of the country left. Families were torn apart. My own father died in exile. Children grew up without grandparents. Entire cities aged overnight.
So when Americans say that foreign intervention is wrong, understand this from the inside, Venezuela is already occupied by Iran, China, Cuba and Russia who are using our beloved country as a shelter for terrorism, drug trafficking, and as a foothold in the American continent. No Venezuelan that I know is celebrating bombs, humiliation or chaos. What we are reacting to is the possibility that the lock might finally open. We know the US has interests in oil, minerals, strategy, and power.
But we also remember a time when Venezuela was functional, prosperous, and connected to the world. When people came to our country instead of fleeing it, when a future didn’t feel irresponsible to imagine. So if you’re an American and confused by Venezuelans celebrating, don’t ask whether they support intervention, but what kind of suffering makes people accept risk in exchange for hope because this reaction didn’t come from ideology but from exhaustion. And I think that’s very important to know because I mean who are the left to sit here and tell people how Venezuelans should feel about what President Trump has done? President Trump has done something great. To many Venezuelans, they are extremely happy about this because they realize that they can probably get their country back and their life back.
From MattMorseTV: As far as Maduro, the US Delta Force and the DOJ law officers brought with them a warrant and read Maduro his Miranda rights, right there on the spot in Venezuela. The 1973 “War Powers Act” is a federal law that gives the President the power to commit US forces to armed conflict without congressional approval, but the President must consult and report to Congress within 48 hours of deployment and it mandates that the troops must be removed within 60 to 90 days if Congress doesn’t authorize the action. This statute means that this action was legal.