JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A developing international story is prompting protests in Jacksonville after a dramatic claim by President Donald Trump about Venezuela\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators gathered outside U.S. Senator Rick Scott\u2019s Jacksonville office following Trump\u2019s social media post claiming Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro had been captured and removed from the country during a U.S. operation that reportedly included airstrikes near Caracas.<\/p>\n
The rally was organized within hours of the announcement. Protesters filled downtown Jacksonville, chanting and holding signs as they responded to what organizers described as U.S. military aggression against Venezuela.<\/p>\n
The protest was organized by members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Organizers said they are firmly against U.S. intervention, calling the reported action illegal and an act of war.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur demands are for no war in Venezuela, for the US to take their hands out of Venezuela, and no more blood for oil,\u201d organizer Jamison Collins-Morita said.<\/p>\n
While protest organizers opposed the attack, some local Venezuelans expressed support for the U.S. action. Maria Kellermann, who came to the United States in 2006 as a political refugee, said the news brought hope after decades of struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been fighting for 25 years to be free, and thank you so much, America, for getting us our Christmas wish come true,\u201d Kellermann said.<\/p>\n
Kellermann also described what she said Venezuelans have endured under the current government.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealthcare is lacking. Food supply is lacking. The Main human rights are completed for a four-hour citizen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The protest also drew political voices, including a candidate running for Congress who criticized the decision and raised concerns about U.S. service members.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not right. Service men and women sacrifice their lives and their families for our freedom. Now you have put Americans at risk.\u201d LaShonda Holloway, a candidate running for the United States House of Representatives in Congressional District 4, said.<\/p>\n U.S. Senator Rick Scott also weighed in, sharing a video on X and writing in part:<\/p>\n \u201cBoth as Governor and now as U.S. Senator, I\u2019ve been proud to stand with Florida\u2019s incredible Venezuelan community and the people of Venezuela who\u2019ve bravely fought for a new day of freedom and democracy! Thanks to @POTUS, Maduro and his thugs are being held accountable, and Venezuela is FREE!\u201d<\/p>\n Kellermann said she is hopeful about what comes next for Venezuelans.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gonna go back and reunite our families, go back and build our country back up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Local Venezuelans said they are closely watching developments and waiting to see what happens next.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A developing international story is prompting protests in Jacksonville after a dramatic claim by President…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":492371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,5229,9331,110281,44679,327,3188,723,221841,13819,7310,221844,425,208487,221843,21782,221842,33106,5207,33769,221840,86405,221845,14982,6225,67,586,8789,132,5230,68,2969,32322,221338,3893],"class_list":["post-492370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-america","tag-americans","tag-caracas","tag-christmas","tag-congress","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-freedom_rose","tag-jackson","tag-jacksonville","tag-kiliman","tag-local","tag-maduro","tag-maria_kiliman","tag-nicholas_brooks","tag-nicolas_maduro","tag-potus","tag-president","tag-president_donald_trump","tag-rick_scott","tag-senator","tag-shanous","tag-states","tag-united","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-united_states","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-venezuela","tag-venezuelans","tag-x"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}