Venezuelan-Americans who gathered Saturday at the Lehigh Valley’s only Venezuelan restaurant, La Bicicleta Arepa Bar in Allentown, appeared jubilant following the ouster of their native country’s leader, Nicholas Maduro, by U.S. forces.
Several dozen people cheered with their fists hoisted in the air and red, yellow and blue Venezuelan flags draped over their shoulders, and sang the Venezuelan national anthem with teary eyes as it played over a speaker system outside the restaurant.
Maduro, who has led the country since 2013, has been widely criticized as an authoritarian who perpetuated election fraud, corruption, and poor human rights and economic conditions.
The U.S. military captured Maduro and his wife in a strike on Caracas early Saturday morning and is transporting him to New York to face criminal charges.
Democrats criticized President Trump for authorizing the strike without congressional approval, while most Republicans lauded the action.
Claudia Canelon, a native of Colombia and owner of La Bicicleta, lived in Venezuela for years before coming to the United States in 1991. She said she is feeling “a lot of emotions” about the regime change, which she said people have been anticipating for years because of the animosity between the United States and Maduro.
“It is something that the Venezuelan people have been expecting for many years, so finally they can breathe and have the hope that they can return to the country,” Canelon said. “Because the reality is that Venezuelan people that are in this country, it’s not because they want to do it, or they have the dream to come here, it is because they must do it because of bad conditions in Venezuela.”
Around 3,000 people of Venezuelan descent live in Allentown, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
One of them is Josmarlys Figuera, who has lived in the city for five years after leaving Venezuela. She said Saturday she hopes Maduro’s ousting eventually will bring freedom and democracy to the Venezuelan people. She also said she hopes opposition leaders Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and Maria Corina Machado, who have run in elections opposing Maduro, will emerge as leaders in a new Venezuelan government.
“We hope that one day [Gonzalez] can lead our country because that’s what we want. We have him and we have Maria Corina Machado, we are just waiting for them to lead our country, that is what we are waiting for so many years,” Figuera said.
Josmarlys Figueroa of Allentown gives her thoughts on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, at La Bicicleta Arepa Bar in Allentown. (Jane Therese/Special to The Morning Call)
Asked whether she thought Trump made “the right choice” by ousting Maduro and taking control of the country, Figuera said “there is no right choice,” but she thought it was important for Maduro to be removed one way or another for the good of the Venezuelan people.
“How we are living these days, it is very stressful, all of the countries are fighting for this,” Figuera said. “So I don’t think it’s the right or the wrong answer, I’m just thinking he had to do what he had to do to get Venezuela free.”
Some of those at the restaurant Saturday said they are apprehensive about Venezuela’s future, with the United States poised to take control of the country with little in the way of a plan on how it will do so, or for how long.
Felix Seijas, an Allentown resident who left Venezuela 26 years ago, said he has slept little since he found out about the strikes on Caracas, where one of his sisters lives, early Saturday morning. He said while he is glad to see Maduro ousted, he worries about “what comes next.”
Felix Seijas of Allentown joins members of the Lehigh Valley’s Venezuelan community Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, at La Bicicleta Arepa Bar in Allentown to celebrate the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. (Jane Therese/Special to The Morning Call)
“I’m not able to do much, I have been looking [at the news] on my phone,” Seijas said. “I want to support, but there is not much we can do, and we worry about what comes next, because innocent people can die.”
He said despite the uncertainty, the current conditions are so poor currently in Venezuela — from food shortages to constant electricity outages — he is hopeful the regime change will bring a better future for his home country.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, who spoke at the La Bicicleta restaurant Saturday, also sounded a note of cautious optimism.
“We are celebrating today the end, but not necessarily the end, but the beginning of the end of a dictatorship in Venezuela,” Tuerk said. “This is the beginning of a process that is going to take some time, but today, it’s a day of celebration.”
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.