How do Venezuelans feel about Maduro's capture

Evening Standard

On Monday evening, several hundred people gathered outside Downing Street for a hastily organised protest against the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by the US armed forces. Protesters bore placards calling on the British government to oppose Donald Trump’s imperialistic manoeuvres. Attendees were from a mix of Left-wing groups, including the Socialist Worker, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Stop the War coalition, as well as some Latin American campaign groups.However, many Venezuelans in London are celebrating the end of the Maduro regime.

Transcript

00:00Trump's operation in Venezuela has shocked the world, but responses to the capture of

00:05Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have been mixed.

00:09Maduro's time in power was largely characterised by widespread poverty, food shortages and

00:14human rights abuses.

00:15Well, Venezuela is a country that has been living an ongoing crisis for the past 27 years.

00:22It's one of the countries that has the largest number of refugees in the world, according

00:28to the UN Refugee Agency.

00:30You can summarise Maduro regime in three words by saying that it was an oppressive, certainly

00:36non-democratic and difficult regime for the country.

00:42Since 2014, nearly a third of the population has left the country, with around 21,000 settling

00:48in the UK.

00:49Since the capture of Maduro, Venezuelans have been uncertain about who's going to come to

00:53power next.

00:54Celebrations in the country have been muted, but not necessarily because people aren't

00:58happy.

00:59Venezuelans in Venezuela at the moment are a little bit apprehensive of what's happening.

01:06There is a sense of relief that Maduro is gone, but the rest of the regime and the heads of

01:11different institutions in the country are still there, and they're still ruling the country.

01:16There's a lot of uncertainty around what's happening in this transition phase.

01:21When I talk to friends, when I look at my WhatsApp groups, there's absolute silence.

01:25No one is able to say anything.

01:26Because if you say something against the regime or your express support for the American move,

01:32or your express support for the freedom and the change of regime, then you might actually

01:37be taken into prison.

01:40Outside Downing Street on Monday, several left-wing and anti-war coalition groups gathered in protest

01:45to Donald Trump's latest move.

01:46At the end of the day, they have been preparing this for quite a while.

01:51They are covering all of these actions under the language of democracy and the language of

01:57human rights or the language of peace, even the fight against drugs.

02:01But I think that many people, not only in London, but across the world are able to see past that

02:06and are able to see reality in the face and are able to see that what America is doing

02:11is not out of love for democracy.

02:16Donald Trump's motives may not be as altruistic as they seem, with many believing his altruism

02:21is a disguise for greed.

02:23Obviously, we know the real reason is for oil to kick China and other imperious nations

02:29out of Latin America so he can expand his influence.

02:33We have to say we are not naive.

02:35We understand that obviously there are some interests from the American administration.

02:42That's the only way that they would be part of this.

02:45But for us Venezuelans, it's like the first time that we feel that our voices are being heard

02:50and that we are feeling that we are receiving the international support that we need.

02:54While we appreciate that the way how Majuro was captured was probably not within the international

03:00legal framework and we wish it would have happened in a completely different way,

03:06we cannot hide the fact that we are happy that it has been removed from power.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended