The Fort Worth Press - 'At last': Venezuelans abroad celebrate Maduro ouster

Thousands massed in the Chilean capital, Santiago, joyfully waving the Venezuelan flag, many decked out in their national colors of yellow, blue and red.

"At last we'll be able to go back home," street vendor Yurimar Rojas told AFP, straining to make himself heard over the ebullient crowd.

"At last we’re going to have a free country," he exclaimed.

Maduro, whose claims to reelection in 2018 and 2024 were widely dismissed as fraudulent, was snatched by US forces in an early-morning military strike and was to be flown to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

"This is tremendous for us," celebrated Yasmery Gallardo, 61, who said she planned to return home soon from Chile, where she has lived for eight years.

"I’m already planning my trip...I can’t wait to be back in my country!" she exclaimed.

Venezuelans in Chile have been spooked by the campaign promises of far-right president-elect Jose Antonio Kast to deport nearly 340,000 undocumented migrants he blames for a perceived rise in crime.

- 'Thank you, Trump' -

In Miami thousands more gathered, singing and kissing the Venezuelan flag.

One shouted from the crowd: "Thank you, Trump!"

"Today, January 3rd, the dreams of Venezuelans abroad came true," Ana Gonzalez, one of the revelers, told AFP.

Another, Anabela Ramos, said she had been waiting "27 years for this moment and now it's finally happened, it's finally happened!"

In Spain, home to about 400,000 Venezuelans, thousands massed in Madrid to celebrate.

"He is gone, he is gone!" and "He has fallen, he has fallen!" they shouted, many with the Venezuelan flag draped over their shoulders as they hugged.

"I came to celebrate: at last we’re emerging from this dictatorship!" said Pedro Marcano, 47, who has his heart set on going home after 11 years abroad.

But first, "we’ll need things to be a bit clearer," he said.

The country's future is uncertain, with President Donald Trump saying Saturday the United States will "run" Venezuela until a power transfer can happen.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has said she is ready to work with Washington, according to Trump, who said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado "doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country" to be president.

Rodriguez later insisted in a public address that Maduro was Venezuela's "only president" and the government was "ready to defend" the country.

At the Madrid rally, a message from Machado was played over a loudspeaker, and the crowd fell silent.

"Venezuela will be free!" said Machado, and Marcano wiped away a tear.

- 'Divine justice' -

In the capital of Colombia, which hosts nearly three million Venezuelans -- more than any other country -- hairdresser Kevin Zambrano grinned widely as he told AFP he was "Happy, happy, happy, happy" to see the back of Maduro.

"The first step is done, and everything else is a gain. (Thanks) to Donald Trump for helping Venezuela," he said at his workplace in Bogota, having left his home country ten years ago.

Yeiner Benitez, who works as a security guard in the Colombian capital, got tears in his eyes as he recalled the hardship and fear that drove him to leave Venezuela in 2022.

During his absence, his uncle died from what Benitez said was a common illness due to a lack of medication -- a common occurrence in economic crisis-ravaged Venezuela.

"Venezuela has gone through a very difficult process; these have been very hard years -- years of hunger, misery, torture, friends lost, friends who disappeared," Benitez told AFP.

"So, forgive the emotion, but what’s happening today is extraordinary; it’s divine justice."

Not everyone was happy with what they see as foreign intervention in the affairs of a sovereign country. In Mexico City, dozens gathered at the US embassy to make their protest known, waving banners with slogans such as "No to war."

"Venezuelan brothers, resist... don’t hand over your land, your oil, your gold” to the United States, protest leader Mario Benitez told the crowd.

burs-mlr/ksb

G.George--TFWP