{"id":104677,"date":"2026-01-03T22:05:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/104677\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:05:06","slug":"venezuelans-in-orlando-celebrate-capture-of-nicolas-maduro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/104677\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelans in Orlando celebrate capture of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0For members of Casa de Venezuela in Orlando, Saturday was a day of celebration.<\/p>\n<p>What You Need To Know<\/p>\n<p>The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro during an early morning attack Saturday<br \/>\n<br \/>President Donald Trump said the U.S. is now evaluating next steps for Venezuela<br \/>\n<br \/>People in the Venezuelan community are celebrating his capture, but some are concerned for the country&#8217;s future<\/p>\n<p>Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife <a href=\"https:\/\/mynews13.com\/fl\/orlando\/international\/2026\/01\/03\/us-military-logistics-venezuela-operations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">were captured by the U.S. military<\/a>, marking a historic moment some say they will never forget. Venezuela-born Fabiola Gomez says she couldn\u2019t sleep when the news broke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been hoping for this day for years. We\u2019ve been waiting for something to happen for years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez says she has lived in Orlando for 33 years, but she still has family back in Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re happy, they\u2019re quiet, they\u2019re scared. They don\u2019t know what to make of it. They don\u2019t know what to say. They are scared still, checking their cell phones. There\u2019s people, hardly anybody on the streets. They\u2019re very cautious about celebrating and waiting the next hours and days,\u201d said Gomez.<\/p>\n<p>As for herself, Gomez says she has mixed feelings of happiness and uncertainty for what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know it\u2019s hard to understand for certain parts of the American community, but 9 million Venezuelans are outside Venezuela, and it wasn\u2019t because they\u2019re on vacation. I mean, they had to leave,\u201d said Gomez.<\/p>\n<p>The group held a press conference near the Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar statue, a man who helped liberate Venezuela, in Lake Eola Park. One by one, they shared their thoughts \u2014 hearts heavy, but ready for a fresh future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are hoping that this new beginning allows us to have that transition that we deserve, that we fought so hard to get,\u201d said Nelson Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump confirmed Maduro\u2019s capture after a U.S. strike on the capital city of Caracas. Despite the destruction, William Diaz with Casa de Venezuela says he is grateful for America\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to see this as an entire and whole political situation that gave freedom back to Venezuela,\u201d said Diaz.<\/p>\n<p>Trump said the U.S. is now <a href=\"https:\/\/mynews13.com\/fl\/orlando\/international\/2026\/01\/03\/us-strikes-venezuela-maduro\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">evaluating next steps for Venezuela<\/a>, but Diaz is hopeful for a new era for his country.\u00a0Diaz tells Spectrum News there will be a rally at 3 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Orlando on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod bless United States,\u201d said Diaz. \u201cGod bless the new Venezuela that starts today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0For members of Casa de Venezuela in Orlando, Saturday was a day of celebration. What You&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1015,115,1335,139,141,140,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-104677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-emma-delamo","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-orange-county","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-tampa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}