While the US invasion of Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro took place nearly 5,000 miles away from London, the news affected many Venezuelans in the capital.
On Saturday morning, the US launched attacked Venezuela and captured its leader in a blitz described by Donald Trump as the greatest military operation since World War II.
Maduro made his first appearance in a New York City courtroom on narco-terrorism charges, where he told the judge ‘I am innocent.’
Metro spoke with Venezuelan business owners in London to get their thoughts and opinions on the capture of Maduro and the invasion of their former home.
Ernesto Moreno, owner and managing director of Arepa & Co, has been living in the UK for 23 years.
Arepa & Co have four restaurants across the capital and have been serving authentic Venezuelan food for 30 years.
He told Metro: ‘The reality is that a large majority of Venezuelans in the UK would be very happy and, to a degree, celebrating the capture of Maduro.
‘There is a lot of tension and criticism about the legal framework in which this was done which I appreciate and share.
‘But what’s an undeniable truth is that for Venezuelans, it’s actually great news. We’ve been enduring years of this dictatorship.’
Although Ernesto joins many other Venezuelans in celebrating the capture of Maduro, he is uncertain on what the future will look like.
He said: ‘There is a degree of uncertainty today, specifically because some of the declarations of Trump have been a bit confusing.
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‘It’s great that he’s removed Maduro but we’re hoping that he facilitates a transition and elections promptly so a new government is installed.’
‘I wish it [the invasion] was done that way but we cannot deny the joy that we feel that he [Maduro] has been removed.’
Due to the regime in his home country, Giovan D’Isidoro moved to London with his family in 2015.
He is happy and hopeful after the capture of Maduro but still has his concerns about Venezuela’s future.
He told Metro: ‘I’m afraid that knowing the criminals they are, I’m sure they’re plotting ways into keeping in power or doing something to keep them in power.
‘We wouldn’t be abroad, most of us, if it weren’t for them.
‘We left our families, everything. We had to put all of our lives in suitcases and just flee to survive, which is pretty sad.’
David Gutiérrez has been living in the UK since 2011 and is the business director and founder at GUASA group, a food company with six locations across London.
The news of Maduro’s capture was positive for him and his family.
He told Metro: ‘It’s the beginning of something new.
‘It’s the beginning of the end of an era of corruption and terrible problems in Venezuela – not just from an economic point of view but politically and culturally.
‘Even though there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment, it will be better than what we have had over the last decade or so.’
Cinzia De Santis, founder and chairwoman of the charity, Healing Venezuela, ‘couldn’t avoid feeling a great sense of relief’ when she found out about Maduro’s capture.
However, she also felt sad that her country needed help from outside to solve its own problems but understands that Venezuela had ‘exhausted all possible democratic avenues.’
She told Metro: ‘I do respect and admire the way the operations were carried out.
‘How they are treating Maduro and his wife, it has no comparison in the way that Maduro and his wife and the regime have treated prisoners in Venezuela.
‘It’s appalling, I mean, the level of torture, the level of isolation and deprivation in Venezuela has been very well documented.’
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro declared himself ‘innocent’ and a ‘decent man’ as he pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a U.S. courtroom on Monday.
‘I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,’ Maduro told a judge.
Maduro was making his first appearance in an American courtroom Monday on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.
Maduro, wearing a blue jail uniform, and his wife were led into court around noon for a brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S.
His next court date is set for March 17.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the US would not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than enforcing an existing ‘oil quarantine’ on the country, walking back Trump’s comment that the US would “run” Venezuela temporarily.
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