Venezuelans in Luxembourg describe ‘happiness’ and ‘uncertainty’ after Maduro capture

Venezuelans in Luxembourg have described their feelings of “uncertainty” after United States forces captured President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday morning during attacks on Caracas.

The US struck the Venezuelan capital early Saturday with airstrikes and shortly after US President Donald Trump announced he had captured Maduro and flown him out of the country. Trump later announced the US would run the South American country in the interim.

“I feel immense joy that Maduro has been captured and is finally leaving power,” said José Figueira. The 56-year-old grew up in Venezuela. He fled to Portugal in 2015 before moving to Luxembourg in 2018.

“I’m glad that he’s going to be tried in the US for narco-terrorism. Drug trafficking has been the great drama in Venezuela, everything revolves around it,” he said.

But despite his joy he Figueira still has family in Venezuela that he is worried about.

“They’re locked in their homes, afraid to go out, afraid of the colectivos who ride bikes and carry guns through the streets – defenders of Maduro,” Figueira said.

Figueira left Venezuela because of hunger and unemployment in the country. He had a brother who stayed behind but who died of cancer last year, aged 56, because he could not get medical aid.

“Venezuela is like this, with 90% of the people in poverty, 40% allied to Maduro and 10% with money that belongs to Maduro’s government,” Figueira said.

It is a “stagnant country, where drug trafficking reigns” he added.

“I fled to give my children a better life, there they closed schools, universities and five refineries, leaving a lot of unemployment,” he said. “The pure crude oil is now sent to Russia, China and Iran to be refined.”

Figueira hopes that Venezuela can become a democratic country again, as do his family still in the country.

“Maduro’s departure from power is a source of great hope,” he said. “But there’s also an uncertainty about the times to come. It’s going to be a complex period and I believe there will be more attacks from the US.”

Ayrton Marques, a Portuguese-Venezuelan living in Luxembourg, left Venezuela at age 18 and moved to Portugal with his parents, before moving to the Grand Duchy years later.

But he still has family in Venezuela, including in Caracas, who he spent the night talking to, worrying for their safety.

Ayrton Marques is Portuguese-Venezuelan and lives in Luxembourg. © Photo credit: Ayrton Marques

“No-one expected it,” he said. “My cousins in Caracas tell me how sudden the attacks were, about 15 attacks carried out a few minutes apart.”

“So far, they say that no civilians have been injured, but there have been attacks on strategic locations and on the fort where Maduro lived. The casualties are authorities and military personnel,” the 27-year-old said.

He said he is pleased that Maduro’s dictatorship has been “interrupted” and that he has been captured.

“There was a narco-dictatorship running the country which had to end,” Marques said. “But right now there’s no telling what the next few days will be like.”

“Rumour has it that there will be more attacks to capture the other two leaders in power, Maduro’s allies, ministers Padrino Lopes and Cabello,” he added.

Marques said that they “also have to be captured and removed from officer, otherwise everything stays the same, but we believe they’ll get out too.”

Marques has lived in Luxembourg for 12 years and said that in Venezuela there is “uncertainty, hope and fear”. But “we look to the future with hope,” he added.

The Luxembourg Times has contacted the foreign affairs ministry for comment about the number of Luxembourg nationals living in Venezuela and plans to evacuate them but has so far received no response.

Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel as of the time of publishing had not publicly reacted to Maduro’s capture.

(This article was originally published in Contacto, translated using AI and edited by Kate Oglesby.)