Venezuelan Americans across South Florida reacted with overwhelming emotion after the arrest of longtime Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, Rep. Maria Salazar told Newsmax on Sunday.
Speaking on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," the Florida Republican said she was in the streets of her district — home to one of the largest Venezuelan American populations in the country — when news of Maduro's arrest broke, and described an outpouring of emotion from residents who fled Venezuela's socialist collapse.
"I cannot explain to you the gratitude — the tears of joy and hope that these people are feeling," she said.
Salazar, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chair of its Western Hemisphere subcommittee, said many Venezuelan Americans view the arrest as a long-awaited moment of accountability after more than two decades of authoritarian rule, economic devastation, and mass migration under the Chávez-Maduro regime.
"These are people who lost everything," Salazar said. "They lost their country, their savings, their ability to live freely. And yet they're incredibly grateful today."
South Florida has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants over the past decade, many of whom fled hyperinflation, food shortages, and political persecution despite Venezuela's vast oil reserves and natural resources.
Salazar said the contrast between Venezuela's wealth and the suffering of its people remains a defining trauma for the diaspora.
"You're talking about a country with the largest oil reserves in the world — oil, minerals, water, land — and people couldn't eat," she said. "There was something profoundly wrong with the government."
Salazar also said Venezuelan Americans have faced added frustration in recent years as migration debates and criminal activity by a small minority have unfairly stigmatized law-abiding refugees who fled socialism and communism.
"Most Venezuelans here are lawful, hardworking people who escaped a dictatorship," she said. "They came because they believe in freedom."
The congresswoman credited President Donald Trump with taking decisive action where previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat, hesitated, arguing the arrest signaled a renewed U.S. focus on the Western Hemisphere.
"For decades, everyone knew what was happening in Venezuela, and nothing was done," Salazar said. "This time was different."
Salazar said Venezuelan Americans she has spoken with are cautiously optimistic about what comes next but see the arrest as a critical turning point — not just for Venezuela, but for the region.
"This is about hope," she said. "Hope that Venezuela can finally begin to rebuild, and that the hemisphere can move away from tyranny and toward freedom."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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