‘It’s impossible not to feel relief’: UK Venezuelans on Maduro’s capture | Venezuela

KCinzia de Santis had mixed emotions when she woke up to the news that Nicolás Maduro had been captured by US troops in a pre-dawn assault on Caracas. “My first reaction was that he was gone, which is good news,” he said.

But the manner in which the Venezuelan President and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown to New York to face criminal charges – in a military operation that appears to have little legal or constitutional authority at this point – has raised concerns.

“No one who loves his country is happy to see foreign troops on his land. Wars and occupations are always a tragedy. This is my reaction to the way he was removed.

“But it is impossible not to feel relieved when you know that a system built on fear, hunger, torture and oppression is beginning to collapse,” said the 69-year-old, president and founder of the Healing Venezuela charity.

He is part of the small but growing Venezuelan community in the UK. The most recent census, taken in 2021, shows the number of Venezuelan-born residents in Britain is over 21,000. “We are all very shaken and deeply moved. I hope the next chapter will be peaceful,” he said.

De Santis arrived in Britain 22 years ago, shortly after his name appeared on the Tascón List in 2004, which included the names of people who signed a petition calling for a recall referendum to oust then-president Hugo Chavez. It was later used by the government to deny signers access to government jobs and welfare programs.

“It was a forced exile in a way. I wanted to stay,” he said. “My daughter had to go to school with an emergency bag full of food, water and pills in case she was attacked and tear gassed.”

While De Santis is pleased with the departure of Maduro, who is seen by many as a dictator, he is not a big fan of Donald Trump. He called her “my least favorite person in the world.”

“I think his charisma is quite questionable. I’m pretty sure his interest in Venezuela is a business interest,” he said.

Nearly eight million Venezuelans have left the country under Maduro’s leadership; This constitutes a quarter of the country’s population. Venezuelans began fleeing their country en masse when its economy collapsed in 2014, leading to hyperinflation, poverty and insecurity. It caused the largest migration crisis in Latin American history, surpassing the number of people displaced from war-torn Syria.

“I have seen what has happened over the years: the collapse of the healthcare system, the rise in cases of malnutrition in children, the dramatic increase in the death rate of pregnant women,” De Santis said.

This news was also difficult for Alejandro Arenas-Pinto to digest. He contacted his family, who were still reeling from the situation. “I really worry about their well-being,” he says.

“I think it’s very difficult to justify the methods, but it’s very clear to me that the humanitarian crisis that Venezuelans are experiencing has led people to believe that perhaps this action by a foreign government could be justified.”

The 55-year-old doctor said: “If you ask a lot of people in Venezuela whether this is legal, that’s not their main concern. The real concern is much more existential and much more fundamental.”

While Arenas-Pinto understands why some in his own country ignore Maduro’s shocking and unprecedented removal from power, he worries about the future. “My main concern is that in all these scenarios of political instability and military intervention, even if they are targeted, there is a possibility of major trouble.

“We have seen what is happening in countries such as Iraq, Libya or Syria; the humanitarian crisis will likely get worse. Casualties and worsening living conditions may be called collateral damage by some, but this can be measured in lives,” he said.

Maduro has extended his 12-year rule despite widespread suspicions that he stole the last presidential election in 2024. “They managed to get through the election route. They tried many ways. For many years, many people were imprisoned for political reasons,” Arenas-Pinto said.

“I don’t think that’s the right way to resolve a political conflict. But it’s worse than a political conflict for a lot of people in Venezuela who tried really hard to do it by other means and failed. They failed, mostly because the repression by the government was brutal.”

Domingo Lapadula said he was concerned that the United States was violating the agreed “rules of engagement” but expressed “joy that the status quo has been disrupted.”

The 58-year-old executive from the automotive industry said, “I think this is a very good situation. We should not be talking about the USA invading Venezuela and removing a president, but about eliminating a regime that somehow hijacked the country.”

He said the reaction of the military, which “did not react to an intruder but was happy for this action to happen,” showed how little opposition there was to oust Maduro. “What was clear was that you could see there was no fight in Venezuela,” he said.