"Hope", "prudence" and spontaneous joy in the streets: This is how Venezuelans in Spain have reacted

Madrid"Everyone is hoping things will get better. We're waiting." Alberto Pérez, president of the Venezuelan Association in Spain, summarized to ARA how his community has received the US attack against the Nicolás Maduro regime. "Excitement" and "waiting" to see how events unfold are the expressions used by Eliza Arcaya, a Venezuelan businesswoman residing in Madrid, in response to questions from this newspaper. Some of her compatriots, also opposed to Chavismo, have not opted for that initial "prudence" and restraint and expressed their spontaneous joy in the streets of Madrid throughout Saturday morning at what could be the "first step" to end the government of "dictator" Maduro. In the afternoon, hundreds of people demonstrated in the Puerta del Sol, chanting "And it has already fallen! This government has already fallen!

The joy of the anti-Chavistas contrasts with the anger of Maduro's supporters. In Madrid, a protest has been called in front of the US embassy for this Sunday at noon to protest against "imperialist aggression," and in Barcelona, ​​hundreds of people have gathered in front of the Bolivarian Convention of Catalonia in defense of the "sovereignty of the Venezuelan people." She argues that the real threat is to the great powers that are enemies of the US, not the freedom and security proclaimed by the US president. Regarding the images of compatriots celebrating: "It makes me very sad. A person who applauds a bombing in their own land should have their citizenship revoked and be required to provide a mental health certificate." According to her, "there will be no peaceful transition because Venezuela is used to defending itself."

Joy in the Puerta del Sol

Hundreds of people waving Venezuelan flags celebrated the "fall" of the Venezuelan president at the hands of Donald Trump, both in Madrid's Puerta del Sol and in front of the Venezuelan consulate, amid shouts of "freedom" and accusations of being a "drug trafficker" or "usurper." Pérez, whose association represents some 3,000 of the 400,000 Venezuelans residing in Spain—most of them in Madrid—observes that in this moment of "high emotions," with "chats buzzing," many voices are reacting impulsively rather than with "common sense" or "forcefulness" against the Maduro regime. "On the other side, there are people who are joining in prayer, hoping for a halt to the violence and for everything that happens to be peaceful," he explains. In his case, as president of the association linked to the Chavista political and opposition movement, he calls for the "responsibility" of all authorities, including Spanish ones, to promote "respect for international law" from now on. "This is what will allow us a long-term solution in the future. Anything else is barbarism," he warns. Pérez has conveyed this message personally to politicians from both the PP and the PSOE, with whom he has communicated by phone—Pérez lives in Madrid, but is currently in the US (Florida) for work—and asked for their active involvement in achieving a "political solution," reminding them that key opposition figures are involved with Maduro. This is the case of Edmundo González, who is claimed as the president-elect in the 2024 elections, which the Spanish government and the European Union do not recognize as valid, and Dinorah Figuera, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly in Venezuela. For the moment, Venezuelan opposition members in Spain have reacted by maintaining a low profile, also waiting to see how things develop.