FIU’s Venezuelan community has expressed cautious optimism after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, while still worried about what the future holds for Venezuela.
Jorge Cardona | Staff Writer
On January 3, former president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, was captured and brought to the United States by the US military as a result of an operation aimed at forcing Maduro to face trial before the Southern District of New York on charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
Since then, there has been much controversy around the legality of the operation under US and international law and the motives behind the actions of the Trump administration, as well as the future of Venezuela without the head of the regime, which is still in place.
Many praise the actions of the Trump administration in arresting the notorious dictator of Venezuela, including the Venezuelan opposition headed by Maria Corina Machado. Others criticize the intervention, citing international law and warning of executive overreach on the part of President Trump.
The controversy and debate surrounding this situation is not lost on FIU’s Venezuelan community, who have been closely following events in their home country and are eager to know what will become of Maduro and the Chavista regime now headed by his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.
Fabian Ramos, an International Relations student at FIU, voiced his contentment with the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, citing it as a first step toward what will hopefully be a transition to democracy in Venezuela.
“Within the next year, I hope to see the beginning of the process towards free elections and a truly democratically elected government and the beginning of a full transition to democracy.”
Mr. Ramos shared his experience of being present in Venezuela when the military operation took place and the perspective of many Venezuelans on the ground, stating that the operation took most people by surprise.
When asked how he would describe how Venezuelans in the country feel about the operation, he said, “There was an atmosphere of celebration throughout the country, but also a rush among many to stock up on basic products such as food and medicine because no one knew what was going to happen.”
Camila Melinkoff, a political science major and president of FIU’s Venezuelan Student Association, shared her generally optimistic view of the future with Maduro out of power and facing trial as a first step towards justice for the Venezuelan people.
“I think that day there was the feeling that some form of justice had been served…it was the feeling of knowing that the person who is one of the reasons why so many of us are not home, why there’s so many political prisoners, and why we have gone through so much is perhaps feeling a little bit of what Venezuelans have been feeling for the past 25 years.”
She further added that she finds much of the internet discourse around the capture of Maduro disappointing, “This is something that we have lived and struggled through ourselves, and I think I see a lot of people online trying to explain international law to us when we have been living through a lack of international law and in international isolation for twenty years.”
When asked what she believes the future holds for Venezuela, Melinkoff stated that she believes it is too early to tell where the course of political events will go, especially with the regime still in power in the hands of Delcy Rodriguez, but that she hopes this will be the beginning of Venezuela’s process of recovery.
Rebeca Hernandez, event coordinator for VSA and a political science major earning a certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, shared a more cautious point of view on what the future holds for Venezuela, saying, “…We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know what will happen, we can speculate, but there are like 100 possible scenarios.”
She further added, “It [Maduro’s capture] is a win… it is a step toward justice…but as long as the people in Venezuela can’t celebrate…why would I celebrate?”
When asked what she would like to see in Venezuela in the coming years, Hernandez stated she would like to see the political prisoners of the regime freed and justice for the victims and perpetrators, as well as real freedom of speech in the country.
These three members of FIU’s Venezuelan community have been following events in their home country closely. They are eager to see the end of the regime and a genuine transition to democracy. However, as Ms. Hernandez stated, it remains unclear what the future holds.
With the regime still in power in the hands of Delcy Rodriguez and the Trump administration’s as-yet-unclear course of action for the coming months, many questions about Venezuela’s future remain unanswered.
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