{"id":278375,"date":"2026-01-10T22:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/278375\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T22:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:23:09","slug":"venezuelans-protest-in-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/278375\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelans protest in Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venezuelans in Ireland gathered on Saturday to celebrate the removal of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> from power and to demand the release of all political prisoners. <\/p>\n

The protest, which attracted about 100 Venezuelans, took place on the Ha\u2019penny Bridge, Dublin city centre. <\/p>\n

It was the same location where a week earlier others had protested against the removal of Maduro<\/a> by the Trump administration in a January 3rd military operation<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Joel Goelvivas, who has been in Ireland for 12 years, said the previous pro-Maduro demonstration had been notable for the absence of any Venezuelans. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to protest against people who feel they have a right to speak about our country. We know it best,\u201d he said, saying there were no Venezuelans he could see at a protest on Saturday outside the US embassy. <\/p>\n

\"JoelJoel Goelvivas, his mother Estella Chacom and sister-in-law Carmen Revuelta call for the release of political prisoners and democracy in Venezuela <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been oppressed and tortured for the last 26 years. There are eight million refugees around the world because of the regime and now finally we have some light at the end of the tunnel. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to show that we support that Maduro was removed. We don\u2019t care if it was done by America and by Trump or by anyone. We don\u2019t care. We just want him [Maduro] gone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maria Gonzalez said: \u201cI want to make sure that everybody knows that Venezuelans are happy. This is just the first step. Venezuela has always been in a dictatorship. The oil has never belonged to us. This is the first step for our freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"MariaMaria Gonzalez at a protest demanding democracy and freedom in Venezuela. <\/p>\n

Many of them spoke ambivalently about US president Donald Trump<\/a> and this was reflected in the banner she held, which read: \u201cThis is not about Trump. It\u2019s about this corrupt dictator [Maduro] and the will of the Venezuelan people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Oraini Ribas, who has been a political refugee in Ireland for the last four years, said: \u201cVenezuelans are happy Maduro is in jail. You can be against Trump and celebrate that Maduro is gone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Her husband, Gustavo Lanz Nunez, a doctor, said: \u201cNobody should fool themselves thinking Maduro is the good guy here.<\/p>\n

\"OrainiOraini Ribas and her husband Gustavo Lanz Nunez protest in Dublin <\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally have a slight piece of hope that justice and freedom will come to our country. Do you think Iran<\/a>, Cuba<\/a>, China<\/a> and Russia<\/a> were just in Venezuela for the food? We are here singing that Maduro is a dictator.\u201d <\/p>\n

Carmen Parada Ortiz held up a picture of her mother Xiomara Ortiz (63), who remains a political prisoner in Venezuela. <\/p>\n

The present Venezuelan government, which is the old one with the exception of Maduro, has released 11 political prisoners under pressure from the US, but more than 1,000 remain in jail. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother has a medical condition. She has no access to a doctor or a lawyer,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201c[In 2024] the Venezuelan people voted for Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, but the vote was not respected. We want freedom for Venezuela and freedom from dictatorship.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another woman who turned up said her father in Venezuela died because he could not get the medical attention he needed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the system. If you are against the government, they just let you die. My family depends 100 per cent on me. We want the rest of the Maduro government to leave,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Her husband said: \u201cEvery Venezuelan has his or her own story of suffering. We left Venezuela because there was no hope. We are happy and we have hope that this will be the end of the dictatorship.\u201d <\/p>\n

The couple, who have two children born in Ireland, asked for their names not be published for fear of retribution at home. <\/p>\n

Separately, more than 100 people participated in a rally outside the US embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin, protesting against intervention in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Some of those gathered waved Venezuelan, Cuban and Palestinian flags, chanting slogans against US imperialism.<\/p>\n

The crowd also chanted \u201cUS out of Venezuela\u201d and \u201chands off Venezuela\u201d.<\/p>\n

Several political parties were represented including Sinn F\u00e9in and People Before Profit (PBP) as well as the \u00c9ir\u00edg\u00ed grouping.<\/p>\n

PBP TD Paul Murphy and former MEP Clare Daly were among those attending.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the rally, civil rights campaigner Bernadette McAliskey described the Trump administration as \u201ca fascist regime in the belly of the beast of US imperialism\u201d.<\/p>\n

At one stage, a smaller group of Venezuelan counter-protesters formed a group in front of the media and said they were grateful to Mr Trump and the US for removing Maduro from power, describing the latter as a \u201ctyrant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms McAliskey said she expected those Venezuelans to \u201clive long enough that they will curse the tongue in your head that ever blessed imperialism\u201d, which she said was the reason for poverty in Venezuela in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Venezuelans in Ireland gathered on Saturday to celebrate the removal of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro from power and to demand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,381,48750,356,52,18,13,14,6,19,18929,17,11,12,15,16,5,42875,550,7,8,384,4450],"class_list":{"0":"post-278375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-cuba","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-dublin","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-featured-news","16":"tag-featurednews","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-iran","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-nicolas-maduro","27":"tag-russia","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-venezuela"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}