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Photo, details of Maduro mission released
In a significant development, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich has provided insights into the recent U.S. mission that successfully captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. President Donald Trump shared his thoughts on this high-stakes operation, which has garnered international attention.
In the wake of Maduro’s capture, Venezuelans worldwide have taken to the streets in a show of solidarity. Maduro’s leadership had been characterized by severe economic decline and a large-scale exodus from the oil-rich country, prompting celebrations among Venezuelan communities globally.
Venezuelans in cities such as Miami, Florida; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Quito, Ecuador; and Madrid, Spain, proudly displayed their national colors and waved Venezuelan flags. These demonstrations followed President Trump’s announcement that Maduro and his wife had been successfully evacuated from Venezuela through a covert U.S. military operation conducted overnight.
The atmosphere in Miami was electric, with Venezuelans engaging in dance and jubilant cheers. The festive spirit extended to gatherings outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. In the nearby city of Doral, people chanted “Liberty!” and wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, symbolizing hope for their nation’s future.
Celebrations erupted outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, January 3, 2025, as Venezuelans marked the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Outside the El Arepazo restaurant, a hub of the Venezuelan culture of Doral, one man held a piece of cardboard with “Libertad” scrawled with a black marker. It was a sentiment expressed by other native Venezuelans hoping for a new beginning for their home country as they chanted, “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”
“We’re like everybody — it’s a combination of feelings, of course,” Alejandra Arrieta, who came to the U.S. in 1997, told The Associated Press.
“There’s fears. There’s excitement,” he said. “There’s so many years that we’ve been waiting for this. Something had to happen in Venezuela. We all need the freedom.”
A child holds a sign reading, “Somos Libres” (“We Are Free”) during a rally in Santiago, Chile, on Jan. 3, 2026, after President Donald Trump said U.S. forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following a military operation. (Sebastián Vivallo Oñate/Agencia Makro/Getty Images)
Ecstatic crowds also gathered in Santiago, Chile, where one child held a sign reading “Somos Libres,” meaning, “We Are Free.”
The demonstrations reflected the scale of Venezuela’s diaspora, which has grown dramatically during Maduro’s years in power, as millions fled what critics describe as a period of economic collapse marked by hyperinflation and widespread food shortages.
Since 2017, roughly 8 million people have fled Venezuela, making it one of the world’s largest displacement crises, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.
Venezuelans in Peru celebrate at Miguel de Cervantes Park near the Venezuelan Embassy in Lima on Jan. 3, 2026, after President Donald Trump said U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following strikes on Venezuela. (Connie France / AFP via Getty Images)
More than 6.9 million Venezuelans are currently hosted in Latin American and Caribbean countries, while hundreds of thousands more live in the United States and Europe, where diaspora communities have remained politically active and closely engaged with events back home.
People celebrate in Madrid, Spain, on Jan. 3, 2026, after President Donald Trump said the United States had struck Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters/Violeta Santos Moura)
People hold Venezuelan and U.S. flags as they react in the streets of Miami, Fla., on Jan. 3, 2026, after President Donald Trump said the United States struck Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
Maduro has been in power since 2013, when he succeeded longtime Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez following Chávez’s death, presiding over a period marked by economic decline, political unrest and mass migration.
Not all reactions to the U.S. action were celebratory.
People react in the streets of Miami, Florida, on Jan. 3, 2026, after President Donald Trump said the U.S. had struck Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
Protests both in favor of and against the strikes have been scheduled in Buenos Aires and other cities across the region, underscoring deep divisions over Venezuela’s future and Washington’s role in the crisis.
In Greece, members of the Greek Communist Party demonstrated against Maduro’s capture.