Members of Philadelphia’s Venezuelan community gathered Sunday at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, where organizers described a moment of mixed emotions after a U.S. strike that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Malduro.<\/p>\n
Some in attendance at the Spanish-language service fled to Philadelphia after leaving Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Dozens of people entered the basilica ahead of a noon service hosted by three organizations, including Casa de Venezuela Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The groups, which organizers said have long been a support system for Venezuelan residents in the region, described the gathering as a time to pray for peace.<\/p>\n
Organizers said many Venezuelans left their home country because of a corrupt government and harsh living conditions that made it difficult to obtain basic necessities such as food and water.<\/p>\n
News of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro’s capture, they said, has brought both relief and concern, with uncertainty over who will lead the country next.<\/p>\n
They added that they hope the moment will lead to the restoration of democratic order and “respect for the will of the Venezuelan people.”<\/p>\n
“It has been a rollercoaster for the Venezuelan community living here in Philadelphia,” said Emelio Buitrago of Casa de Venezuela Philadelphia. “Most of the people are relieved we are seeing Maduro in prison – but it’s the uncertainty of what’s coming next.”<\/p>\n
The basilica service was one local event responding to the U.S. strike in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the Unitarian Society of Germantown in Mount Airy hosted what organizers called the “No War in Venezuela Emergency Vigil.”<\/p>\n
They described it as one of hundreds of protests nationwide and pointed to elected officials who have condemned what they called an “invasion and kidnapping” of Maduro.<\/p>\n
Protesters also voiced opposition to the U.S. becoming involved in another country’s conflicts.<\/p>\n
Organizers of the basilica service said they are urging caution and patience. Their prayers, they said, will focus on peace, truth, freedom and the dignity of the Venezuelan people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of Philadelphia’s Venezuelan community gathered Sunday at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, where organizers described…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":492510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,92550,221891,221892,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,32322,221545],"class_list":{"0":"post-492509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-nicolas-maduro","10":"tag-noon-service","11":"tag-organizers","12":"tag-pa","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-venezuela","22":"tag-venezuelan-president"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492509","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=492509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}