{"id":147552,"date":"2026-02-02T14:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/147552\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T14:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:56:13","slug":"u-s-intervention-in-venezuela-divides-houston-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/147552\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. intervention in Venezuela divides Houston \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"LupitaLupita Gutierrez, a fruit and vegetable vendor, poses for a portrait on Jan. 14 at the Houston Farmer\u2019s Market in Houston. Gutierrez says she thinks Trump ordered the intervention in Venezuela to distract Americans from his failure to reduce inflation at home. (Danielle Villasana for NPR)<\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2014 It\u2019s been barely a month since U.S. forces swooped into Venezuela and snatched up strongman Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. The raid convulsed that country, and the effects still ripple through this oil-rich city, home to major petroleum companies as well as a large Venezuelan community.<\/p>\n

Some people here fear what U.S. intervention might bring. Others see a powerful message to the world and an opportunity. In the suburb of Katy, Freddy Pereira is buying chocolate Ovaltine and lollipops from a Venezuelan grocery store to remind his 9-year-old daughter of home. Pereira, 42, says he left Venezuela two years ago after the mafia kept extorting meals from his restaurant and the cops were no help. The U.S. seizure of Maduro gives him hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very grateful to President Trump for everything he has done,\u201d says Pereira, who wears a \u201cLone Star State\u201d cap and now makes a living delivering food. \u201cI finally see a light in this dark tunnel where we couldn\u2019t see a way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FreddyFreddy Pereira poses for a portrait on Jan. 14 at Mi Querencia Latin Market in Katy, Texas. Pereira fled Venezuela two years ago and now works delivering food in Houston. He says he\u2019s grateful to President Trump for ordering the seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro: \u201cI don\u2019t believe anyone else, nobody, would have helped us get out of this tragedy.\u201d (Danielle Villasana for NPR)<\/p>\n

A 30-minute drive east of Katy is the Houston Farmers Market where Lupita Gutierrez sells fruit and vegetables. Gutierrez, who is 39 and from Mexico, thinks the Trump administration seized Maduro to distract from problems here at home, including high food prices and protests over ICE raids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is going through a lot of problems,\u201d says Gutierrez, who wears an apron that reads, \u201cMexico Lindo,\u201d or \u201cBeautiful Mexico.\u201d \u201cI think it\u2019s mainly because the president isn\u2019t doing the job he should be doing to take care of all the people who live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutierrez was one of nearly two dozen local residents interviewed about the U.S intervention in Venezuela. Most opposed it. A recent New York Times\/Siena poll found similar results, with 53% disapproving of Trump\u2019s handling of Venezuela and 41% approving.<\/p>\n

Clay Duncan, who works for a medical device company, is among those 41%. He was still wearing his blue scrubs when NPR caught up with him one evening in Rice Village, a shopping and restaurant district near Rice University. Duncan is still impressed with how U.S. special forces captured Maduro.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s also a warning to other countries when you push the administration, when you push the American people to a certain point, we\u2019re going to take action,\u201d Duncan says.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of smuggling drugs that are killing Americans, and Duncan thinks getting rid of Maduro will help. But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says Venezuela plays no role in fentanyl smuggling and that most cocaine is produced in Colombia.<\/p>\n

\"ClayClay Duncan poses for a portrait on Jan. 14 at Rice Village in Houston. Duncan, who works in the medical device industry, is happy with Trump\u2019s second term. He says the intervention in Venezuela is a message to other countries: \u201cWhen you push the American people to a certain point, we\u2019re going to take action.\u201d (Danielle Villasana for NPR)<\/p>\n

Duncan also hopes the U.S. can revive Venezuela\u2019s oil industry and help its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not an imperialistic country,\u201d Duncan says. \u201cThat\u2019s not what this is. I think if we help set them up on their own feet so that they can get their sea legs and run the country, that\u2019s what\u2019s best for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several miles north of Rice Village is a caf\u00e9 called Brazil. Paintings of LBJ and Larry Hagman \u2014 who played JR on the \u201980s TV show Dallas \u2014 hang over the bar.<\/p>\n

\"GwenGwen McMurrey, an interior designer, says the U.S. intervention clearly seems like a grab for Venezuela\u2019s oil. \u201cIf it was regime change,\u201d she says, \u201cwhy did you leave the regime in place?\u201d (Danielle Villasana for NPR)<\/p>\n

Gwen McMurrey, 38, an interior designer, is writing thank-you notes over a latte and a blueberry scone. She thinks the U.S. intervention in Venezuela is a scam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems like such an obvious oil grab,\u201d McMurrey says. \u201cTrump is dangerous and \u2026 stupid, which is fine, a lot of people are stupid, but he\u2019s just got too much power for that to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few tables away sits Shanna Berry, 52, a retired hairdresser. She supports Trump and is glad Maduro\u2019s gone, but she worries Trump might deploy a sizable U.S. force to the country. Berry served in the Air Force as a munitions specialist and says she was in Kuwait after the first Gulf War.<\/p>\n

\"RetiredRetired hairdresser Shanna Berry (right), pictured with her friend Alma Ong, says she worries the U.S. might send troops to Venezuela but generally approves of the U.S. action there. \u201cFor the most part, I support it because I am against the dictatorship,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of people were suffering in Venezuela.\u201d (Danielle Villasana for NPR)<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many men went over there to defend our country, and they\u2019ve come back with things like severe PTSD and really bad injuries. And my fear is that it once again will be for nothing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Trump wants U.S. companies to rebuild Venezuela\u2019s oil industry. But some are wary \u2014 in the past, the Venezuelan government forced them to renegotiate contracts on worse terms. In addition, most Venezuelan oil has the consistency of peanut butter, making it costly to move and refine.<\/p>\n

But retired oil worker John Rodriguez, 58, sees opportunity. He spoke to NPR at a roadhouse one night near the refineries east of the city.<\/p>\n

\"T-shirtsT-shirts celebrating the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro were for sale at Mi Querencia Latin Market in Katy, Texas, on Jan. 14. (Danielle Villasana for NPR)<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it would have a huge impact on the ability for us to produce and create jobs for the industry,\u201d Rodriguez says, adding that the top refineries in the area are able to manage what he calls Venezuela\u2019s \u201cdirty crude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Historically, U.S. intervention in Latin America \u2014 from Chile to Guatemala \u2014 has often left the countries and people worse off. Rodriguez is wary of the U.S. inserting itself again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to take over a country like that we need to be able to support it,\u201d Rodriguez says. \u201cWe need to be able to help the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lupita Gutierrez, a fruit and vegetable vendor, poses for a portrait on Jan. 14 at the Houston Farmer\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[910,56,58,57,6784,1724,66,4491,223,41138,462,287,7678,23159],"class_list":{"0":"post-147552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-houston-oil-and-gas-industry","13":"tag-immigration","14":"tag-local","15":"tag-national","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nicolas-maduro","18":"tag-oil","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-president-trump","21":"tag-venezuela"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}