Name: Venezuelans in the U.S. concerned about Trump-Maduro tensions
Uploaded: 2025-12-11T09:31:05.970Z
Duration: 3 min 7 s
Description: In South Florida, Venezuelans watch rising U.S.-Venezuela tensions with hope and fear — supporting pressure on Maduro but worried about the risks of military intervention and its impact on their homeland.

In South Florida, Venezuelans watch rising U.S.-Venezuela tensions with hope and fear — supporting pressure on Maduro but worried about the risks of military intervention and its impact on their homeland.

Florida

Venezuelans residing in South Florida are closely watching escalating tensions between the U.S. government, led by President Trump, and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Many in the community support efforts to remove Maduro, citing the failure of political solutions and reports of repression in Venezuela, but they are also concerned about the potential consequences of military intervention, particularly the risk to civilians.

Exiled opposition figures, such as Omar González, argue that the situation is a matter of national security for both the U.S. and Venezuela, and point to significant U.S. military mobilization in the region. Despite differing views on intervention, the Venezuelan diaspora in Florida shares a common hope for a swift return to democracy in their homeland.

Venezuelans in the U.S. concerned about Trump-Maduro tensions

Kimberlin and Yolkert have been living in the U.S. since 2023. Here in South Florida, home to most Venezuelans in the country, they closely monitor President Trump's threats against Nicolás Maduro and the massive military build-up in the region. They want to see regime change in their country, but are concerned about its implications. It's an internal struggle. Sometimes you say yes and sometimes no. One day you wake up and say yes, let them intervene militarily. The next day you say, but what if a bomb falls on my father's house, on a hospital, on children? While his wife is afraid about the impact of civil society, she believes international intervention is the only possible way to remove authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro. In Venezuela, there are no longer any political ways to remove that regime. They have tried everything. They stole the elections from us. Anyone who expresses a different opinion is arrested, persecuted and tortured. Women, men and lately entire families have been kidnapped. Far away from home, many here in Doral, a Miami neighborhood often referred to as Doralzuela, due to its large Venezuelan community, support a military intervention. But while people here might be supporting President Trump's pressure against Nicolás Maduro, it's not clear that if the White House decides on a military intervention, how President Trump, the self-declared peace president, will be able to convince his base that this step is necessary, especially considering that one of his campaign promises was to end America's endless wars. Omar González, a Venezuelan opposition politician who now lives in exile in the U.S., claims this is a national security matter for the White House and that there is a lot at stake for Caracas, but also for Washington, D.C. President Trump is putting his status as the head of the world's leading power on the line. I don't believe that this immense mobilization of aircraft, nuclear submarines and the largest aircraft carrier on the planet is a bluff or just to show off power. Following the disputed July 2024 presidential election, Omar González, along with several other opposition figures, fled to the Argentinian embassy to avoid arrest and a crackdown on opposition leaders. After more than a year in the embassy, they were rescued and arrived in the U.S. Now Omar González is part of the political party Vente Miami, along with his colleague José Graterol, and continues his advocacy work from exile. Though less vocal than those calling for intervention, some Venezuelans quietly fear what a military action could mean for the country and for a region already scarred by past interventions. But they share one thing, the hope for a swift return to democracy at home.

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