JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – A group of people were protesting in Jacksonville on Sunday against U.S. military action in Venezuela.
This comes after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured by the United States and flown out of the country in an operation that included a flurry of strikes.
“When we see what this administration is doing with disregarding our congressional laws, this should not have been allowed to happen,” said Angelica Rosado, a protester.
A small but vocal group took to the street corner off North Marine Boulevard on Sunday to protest the action. The protesters put this rally together in just 24 hours to voice their thoughts on the matter publicly.
“I was very upset when I woke up right after Christmas and saw that Trump had kidnapped the leader of Venezuela; he had no legal authority to do so. And I think he’s not gonna stop there,” said Lauren Saikkoien, a human rights activist.
While a couple of protesters said they were against Maduro’s actions, they said it should have been handled differently.
“If we are ever supposed to be America first, we cannot be spending all of our resources, all of our energy, to go in here and invade foreign countries and take their freaking leader back to our country. Do you realize how absurd that is? The way we did it was wrong,” Rosado said.
A man near the protest said he supports the U.S. actions in Venezuela.
“We’re talking about drugs that were being shipped over here and killing our people. We have every right to defend our people from harm. It’s just amazing that we have people on the opposite end of it. It’s just hard to comprehend,” said Buddy Hobbs, a Jacksonville resident.
Due to the short notice on today’s protest, organizers said there will also be another one held next weekend.
There have been similar protests worldwide since news broke yesterday morning.
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