Joy and relief over news that Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro has been captured exploded among the Venezuelan community in Doral, Florida, on Saturday.
A crowd of hundreds gathered outside the El Arepazo restaurant, Local 10 reported.
When asked why he wanted to be there, a young man named Edgar told a reporter he wanted to talk to the American people and looked straight into the camera. He said he wanted to speak to them because it was “history in the making.”
“I mean, my chest, it feels like it’s gonna explode with joy because … I mean, before I was even born, there have been struggles that my family has been fighting for so many years before I was even here — they have told me about it,” he said, adding his family told him about the years when “democracy existed.”
He thanked President Donald Trump for allowing Venezuelans to work in the United States, “but now we will be working in our country,” Edgar added.
It appeared the crowd began celebrating even before the sun came up, according to video footage from Only in Dade:
Trump announced early Saturday that the United States carried out a large air strike on Venezuela and that Maduro and his wife had been captured and flown out of the country.
Video footage also shows crowds in Chile celebrating the news:
According to Breitbart News:
Maduro, who has maintained himself in power through a series of sham presidential elections, is actively wanted by U.S. authorities on multiple narco-terrorism charges. The U.S. has an active $50 million bounty on information leading to Nicolás Maduro’s arrest and/or conviction.
U.S. courts accused Maduro in 2020 of being a leading figure, if not the leader of, the Cartel of the Suns, an international cocaine trafficking operation led by top members of the Venezuelan regime that for years sought to “flood” the United States with cocaine to harm its people.
Wanted poster for Nicolas Maduro. (State.gov)
Following the strikes, Venezuela declared a state of emergency.
In response to the successful operation to capture the dictator, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), chair of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, compared Maduro’s arrest to a major historical event, according to Breitbart News.
“President Trump has changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it. Today’s decisive action is this hemisphere’s equivalent to the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” he wrote in a social media post.
“It’s a big day in Florida, where the majority of Venezuelan, Cuban, & Nicaraguan exiles reside. This is the community I represent & we are overwhelmed with emotion and hope,” he continued, adding, “We are forever grateful to President Trump & to our brave service members for this stellar military operation. ¡Gracias!”
More video footage shows the Venezuelan community in Doral gathered to celebrate Maduro’s capture. A reporter for CBS Miami said many of those in the crowd said they feel more comfortable about visiting family in Venezuela now that Maduro has been removal.
“It means they waited so many years for a chance at freedom and it’s finally here. So it’s 26 years of waiting and waiting for a better Venezuela that’s free, and now they’re going to be able to all go back and enjoy with their families,” one man said:
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday that Maduro and his wife have been indicted, per Breitbart News.
“Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” she said.
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