CARACAS — A Venezuelan father of two was rocking his baby girl to sleep early Saturday morning when he heard the flight of multiple aircraft over the Caracas municipality of Baruta.
He assumed “by the speed and sound” that they could possibly be military. A few seconds later, he heard five continuous, loud explosions.
Seven years ago, Lucy Mimo left behind the instability that had marred her family’s comfortable life in Caracas. She hoped the United States would offer her daughter a better future. In the years since, Mimo, 47, has become a U.S. citizen.
Her child, now 12 years old, has spent most of her life in the United States. But the American-orchestrated capture of Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro on Saturday morning is a moment, she said, for which she’s been waiting for years
The United States carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela’s socialist regime early Saturday morning, bombing several military and key government installations and capturing strongman Nicolás Maduro, who was flown out of the country along with his wife, President Donald Trump announced on social media.
Reports from Venezuela say at least 17 aircraft crossed the skies of Caracas among the many explosions, which appeared to target the airport of La Carlota, the 23 de Enero neighborhood, the Fuerte Tina military headquarters and the area of Higuerote. Images from Venezuela reveal damage to military targets and a rush on foot by many Venezuelans to cross the border into Colombia.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were transported to New York to face criminal charges. In an interview on Fox News, Trump described the mission as a “surgical” strike carried out after days of preparation, multiple failed attempts to secure Maduro’s surrender and what he called an escalating national security threat tied to drug trafficking.
Trump said Maduro will be indicted in New York.
In Miami, Venezuelan exiles headed to El Arepazo in Doral in the early hours to celebrate the ouster of Maduro, while political leaders chimed in with support of the action by the Trump administration.
But despite the questions looming over the country and its people, the strongman’s expulsion has left many immigrants who found sanctuary in South Florida wondering whether, sooner rather than later, they will be able to go home. To help their country prosper, to reunite with their loved ones, to live and die on the land in the land they were born.
Irasel Carpavirez, 50, a former lawyer, celebrated on Saturday at El Arepazo, the Venezuelan restaurant in Doral, alongside hundreds of her countrymen. Nearly everyone was draped in Venezuelan flags or wearing hats and jerseys in the national colors, turning the crowd into a sea of red, blue and yellow.
She told the Miami Herald she is ready to return and hopes doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and other professionals will too.
“I think this is the moment to return to Venezuela and rebuild,” she said. “Everyone has to come back because Venezuela has to rise from the ashes.”
