{"id":215773,"date":"2026-01-04T03:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T03:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/215773\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T03:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T03:33:06","slug":"venezuelan-in-new-zealand-hopes-maduro-capture-will-help-free-missing-cousin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/215773\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan in New Zealand hopes Maduro capture will help free missing cousin"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a prewritten message released after his arrest, Guanipa denounced Maduro and said he was kidnapped by the forces of his regime, Al Jazeera reported. <\/p>\n

Truchsess said that with Maduro in US custody<\/a>, he may find out about Guanipa\u2019s condition and whereabouts. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to know if he\u2019s safe or not.\u201d <\/p>\n

Guanipa has not had access to legal counsel or a fair trial since his arrest, Truchsess told the Herald. <\/p>\n

\"Venezuela'sVenezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro onboard the USS Iwo Jima after the US military captured him, according to US President Donald Trump. Photo \/ Truth Social<\/p>\n

The Government run by the \u201cdictator\u201d Maduro, and Hugo Ch\u00e1vez before him, was a regime which \u201ccrippled\u201d the country, Truchsess said. <\/p>\n

He was out getting ice cream with his wife when he heard the news of the initial strikes on Caracas, Venezuela\u2019s capital and the president\u2019s capture. <\/p>\n

The initial reaction Truchsess had was \u201cshock and relief that we could finally see light at the end of the tunnel\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said others in the New Zealand Venezuelan community are \u201crelieved\u201d that Maduro has been taken but are aware that \u201cit is not over\u201d. <\/p>\n

Other officials need to be booted out of the Government, and Venezuelans\u2019 will keep a close eye on how the transition to a democratic system plays out<\/a>, he said. <\/p>\n

Trump told media this morning the US would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela during an undetermined transitional period. <\/p>\n

Truchsess said the risk of the US overstepping the mark during that time is worth having Maduro and his Government gone. <\/p>\n

Since moving out of the country, Truchsess has not been back to visit for fear of not being able to leave because of his family\u2019s ties with the opposition. <\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s events have him hopeful it will be safe for him, his wife and his two young children to travel to Venezuela in the future, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen my friends, my uncles, since 2012, there are people who have died and I haven\u2019t been able to say my proper goodbyes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Truchsess\u2019 parents and sister followed him to New Zealand after he immigrated. <\/p>\n

He said a large chunk of his family still lives in Venezuela, while the rest are scattered across the globe in countries such as Argentina, England and the US. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a prewritten message released after his arrest, Guanipa denounced Maduro and said he was kidnapped by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[682,41220,1887,58250,4975,123079,71,5838,10670,3012,66305,78,7240,4188,107147,6501,117,111,43,139,69,18154,2572,107149,1533,80],"class_list":["post-215773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-being","tag-capture","tag-countrys","tag-cousin","tag-free","tag-freed","tag-from","tag-help","tag-hopeful","tag-hopes","tag-imprisonment","tag-in","tag-lead","tag-living","tag-maduro","tag-missing","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-political","tag-president","tag-venezuelan","tag-will","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}