Experts tell us why the CIA is in Venezuela
The CIA is in Venezuela – but why? This is what experts told USA TODAY.
- U.S. military operations in Venezuela include the detention of President Nicolas Maduro.
- Some Venezuelan Americans in Florida are celebrating the news, calling the Maduro regime a criminal organization.
- U.S. Congressman Byron Donald praised the action and condemned President Maduro’s drug trafficking and threat to national security.
When Floridians woke up to the news of the U.S. attack on Venezuela, Dennis Castillo was already celebrating.
The Venezuelan-born American national came here with her mother and three siblings when she was 15, but has remained in close contact with her family in the South American country.
“Everyone is very excited” about the news that U.S. forces have captured President Nicolas Maduro, she said.
“He’s the worst of the worst, running a criminal organization and giving land to America’s worst enemies. People need to realize that,” she said.
Thanks to the social media platform WhatsApp, Venezuelans are aware that military action is imminent, and residents near its targets know to stay put, she said.
“My family lives very close to a military base and we knew we needed to hide, but no one knew exactly when the explosions were going to start until we started hearing the explosions,” she said.
“At first I thought it might have been fireworks, but then I started hearing sounds like helicopters.”
In a letter to the Naples Daily News, U.S. Representative Byron Donald praised President Donald Trump’s actions and accused President Maduro of using “foreign terrorist organizations to traffic deadly drugs and violence into our country, killing countless Americans. He is one of the world’s greatest drug traffickers and a threat to our national security.”
“He was captured this morning. This is ‘peace through strength.'” Justice will be served. ”
estimated value of The Venezuelan population of Southwest Florida is not exact, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey, approximately As of 2023, there will be 4,200 people in Collier and 2,200 in Lee.
Castillo said she agrees with President Trump’s assertion that many recent immigrants are “people who hate America.”
She says Maduro released prisoners of war and mentally ill people and encouraged them to come to the United States, just as Cuba’s Fidel Castro did in 1980.
Venezuelan migrants were among the groups targeted last year when the Trump administration rescinded Temporary Protected Status for nationals of several countries, including Haiti, Venezuela, Honduras, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Amy Bennett Williams is a senior reporter specializing in the environment. Email awilliams@news-press.com.
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