LI Venezuelans react to U.S. capture of President Nicolás Maduro

The surprise U.S. military operation to capture Venezuela’s leader left some members of Long Island’s Venezuelan community hoping a regime change could brighten the country’s future.

President Donald Trump said during a Saturday news briefing the U.S. involvement would lead Venezuela toward a future that is "rich, independent and safe." Venezuelans living in the United States will be "extremely happy," he said.

U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a “large-scale strike” in the country’s capital city of Caracas early Saturday, after months of escalations.

Maduro, who has been indicted on drug charges, is blamed by the Trump administration for both illicit drugs and migrants flowing into the United States.

Beyond trafficking drugs, Maduro’s regime has been marred by alleged crimes against humanity, including jailing, torturing and killing opponents, according to the United Nations. 

Francis Tanzi, 51, of Patchogue, said she was meeting with fellow Venezuelans at a restaurant in Queens on Saturday to celebrate the capture of Maduro. Elsewhere, though, people gathered in Times Square on Saturday afternoon to denounce the attack. 

Tanzi said the democratic ways to remove Maduro’s grip on the country had failed. Even after seemingly losing an election, Maduro remained in control of a country where conditions are "terrible" and vast portions of the population live in poverty, she said.

"I know this is not the end, but this is the beginning of our freedom," she said.

International criticism of Maduro intensified after the 2024 election, in which he declared victory and retained power after seemingly losing by a "landslide," The Associated Press reported.

Tanzi, who has lived in the United States for 25 years, is unsure what the transition will look like, but Venezuela needs a restart, she said. Although she expressed concern for the people now living in Venezuela, that had long been her worry.

Glad Maduro is gone

Minerva Perez, the executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, told Newsday that members of the Venezuelan community she had spoken with were happy Maduro was out of power. At the same time, they are concerned about the United States capturing a sovereign leader and transporting him to a different country, she said.

Long Island is home to a small Venezuelan population. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey showed about 2,666 Venezuelans living on Long Island with 1,472 in Suffolk and 1,194 in Nassau. About 35,000 Venezuelans live in New York State, according to the survey.

The Associated Press reported on "reverse migration" in September, noting more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, had returned to South America since a crackdown on immigration began under the Trump administration.

Venezuelan Long Islanders kept up with the drama unfolding on television screens, social media and WhatsApp message chains with family members in Caracas, the capital.

In touch with relatives

Robert Reyna, of Baldwin, said he had been in constant contact with an aunt and cousin in the Caracas area and watched the news with "tempered excitement" after Maduro was captured.

"I'm happy that this is an opportunity that could potentially provide a path for the country to create economic stability, political and social stability. It's a country that has been plagued by high crime rates over these years, and that has always been very concerning," Reyna, 50, said in an interview on Saturday.

But, Reyna said, he has some "built-in skepticism" over the change. "The political situation there in Venezuela has always been very volatile, so now I’m just hoping for the best."

Reyna, whose father immigrated to New York from Venezuela in the 1960s, last visited in the early 1990s and hasn’t been back due to the instability and travel restrictions.

For now, Reyna said he was most concerned with the geopolitical and economic impacts after Trump said the United States would "run" oil assets.

Fled Venezuela

Niurka Meléndez, co-founder of the New York City-based Venezuelans and Immigrant Aid, fled her homeland in 2015 to escape what she said was rampant political persecution and violence by the Maduro administration.

"It’s a bit hard for the international community to understand what we are facing," said Meléndez, of Manhattan, in a phone interview Saturday morning. "It’s just a systematic violation of our basic human rights."

Meléndez in 2016 co-founded Venezuelans and Immigrant Aid, a nonprofit dedicated to providing legal information to people seeking protection in the United States.

The toppling of Maduro’s regime may serve as a beacon for Venezuelans and provide an opportunity to return to the country they fled due to political and social violence, she said.

"Today is just our voice being heard," Meléndez said. "I believe that what happened today is a light at the end of the tunnel for many like me that deserve to visit their homeland."

Meléndez said she hoped for "justice" against Maduro. Moving forward, Venezuela should be built on the premise that a similar regime "cannot happen ever again," she said.

Melanie Creps, executive director of the nonprofit Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead and Brentwood, said the Trump administration’s move last year to cut temporary protected status to Venezuelans in the United States runs at odds with the military’s latest actions.

Trump last year said life in Venezuela "has drastically improved," spurring a policy change that threatened deportations for 600,000 Venezuelans living in the country, Newsday previously reported.

United States ends TPS

Temporary protected status, part of a program established by Congress in 1990, allows noncitizens to live and work in the United States. The designation is granted to people from countries designated by the Department of Homeland Security as unsafe.

"Within the first month of them being in office, they ended TPS for Venezuelans claiming that country didn’t need that designation anymore, which implies that it’s stable," Creps said in a phone interview. "And now, less than a year later, obviously this action proves that they don’t believe it was a stable, safe nation."

Creps said the administration’s "inconsistency in their treatment of immigration and other nations is shocking to me."

While some Venezuelans, particularly those who lived under Maduro’s regime, may celebrate the military action, Creps said there remain significant questions about the future stability of the country and the status of those living on American soil.

"Those who lived in fear under Maduro’s leadership absolutely might have some joy and relief in this move, but the future is far from secure for anyone in Venezuela," Creps said.

On Saturday morning, peace activist Myrna Gordon stood on a street corner in Setauket where she had gathered weekly for the past three months with other members of the North Country Peace Group. She held a sign that read, "Hands off Venezuela." Others held signs saying "No war on Venezuela" and "Practice peace."

"The U.S. has now bombed Venezuela, kidnapped its president and claimed our government will now run the country," she told Newsday. "This is utter destruction of any rule of law."