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The United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, is an event worth celebrating for one Venezuelan refugee living in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“This was the help we were waiting to get out of the reparation and dictatorship in our country,” Geraldine Pacheco told CBC News on Saturday.
Pacheco arrived in St. John’s with her husband and two small children from the South American country through a humanitarian aid visa in 2024.
“The situation in Venezuela is very difficult, very difficult,” she said, adding that her parents and sister still live in the country.
“They are happy about what is happening because they want to live in a free Venezuela. Right now, they live with fears, repression… and no food, no supplies,” Pacheco said.
Saturday strike
The U.S. hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and moved Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington — an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.
Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and his wife were at their home within the Fort Tiuna military installation when they were captured.
“That’s where they bombed,” he said. “And, there, they carried out what we could call a kidnapping of the president and the first lady of the country.”
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. after the United States Venezuela with a ‘large-scale strike.’ (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Maduro and his wife have since been indicted in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media platform X.
Bondi added that the couple will “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
‘Opportunity to restore democracy’
The situation marks Washington’s most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
Multiple explosions rang out, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas, the capital of the oil-rich nation, early Saturday, as Maduro’s government immediately accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations.
The Venezuelan government called it an “imperialist attack” and urged citizens to take to the streets.
Pacheco doesn’t see it that way.
“We are very happy because it is an opportunity to restore democracy in our country and to remove the corrupt people who run drug cartels, were killers, did not respect humanity, human rights and kept people living under repression and hunger,” she said.
Canada supporting Venezuelan people
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada is standing with the people of Venezuela in a statement on Saturday.
“We have refused to recognize any legitimacy of the Maduro regime and opposed its repression of the Venezuelan people,” she said.
Canada closed its embassy in Venezuela in 2019 and did not recognize the Maduro regime as legitimate, Foreign Affairs Minister, Anita Anand said in a statement on Saturday. (Sean Kilpatrick/ The Canadian Press)
Trump spoke highly of the U.S. forces and his administration’s foreign policy at a news conference late Saturday morning.
“No nation in the world could achieve what America has achieved yesterday or frankly in a short period of time,” he said of his administration’s actions.
The United States will lead Venezuela until a “proper transition can take place,” Trump said during a news conference.
“We know that it will take time for Venezuela to experience change, but it will become a global economic and tourism power again. This is what all Venezuelans hope for,” Pacheco said.
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