Updated Jan. 9 at 10:18 a.m.
The dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by the United States military has brought thousands of Venezuelans together in Atlanta to celebrate. It has also sparked intense division and debate within the Atlanta community and Georgia lawmakers, who condemn the aggressive deployment of U.S. military power without the consent of Congress.
Marisu Fernandez is a Peachtree Corners marketing entrepreneur who fled Venezuela roughly a decade ago. She represents one of more than 20,000 Venezuelan immigrants who have settled in Georgia.
“I had to leave my country, not because I want it. It was not my choice,” Fernandez said. “I had to leave for different political and safety reasons. It’s just hard because you don’t know what’s going to happen the next day. They can take everything from you. You are living in constant anxiety and loss of stability.”
President Donald Trump announced in a news conference Saturday that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela temporarily, even if that means using troops on the ground. Trump added that he plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and fix its “broken infrastructure” by tapping into vast oil reserves to sell to other nations, including turning over between 30 million and 50 million barrels to the U.S.
Fernandez sat down with WABE’s “Morning Edition” to share her perspective on celebrations over the weekend and to react to partisan divisions over U.S. involvement in her home country.
While Fernandez says the raid was good for her country, she doesn’t want to see the focus shift 100% towards the oil industry, subsequently leaving the Venezuelan people behind.
Georgia is home to one of the largest populations of Venezuelan immigrants nationwide, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Most have fled to metro Atlanta within the last decade. Nearly 9,000 reside in Gwinnett County alone. Other top areas where Venezuelans reside include Fulton, Cobb and DeKalb counties.
Andres Boscan is another Venezuelan national who came to Alpharetta in 2021, when political and economic instability worsened under Maduro and resulted in a mass exodus of more than 8 million people.
Boscan tells WABE’s “Morning Edition” that he left extreme poverty and a socialist society, where even water and electricity were often hard to come by. He says that the overall sentiment in the Venezuelan community and those he’s spoken with, is that most are fine with the U.S. running the country temporarily, and seizing control of the oil reserves — but there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
“A lot of people do see him as a savior, but they also are aware, and they’ve been very honest about the oil; they want something in return,” Boscan said.
“If you think about it, the oil has been looted from countries like China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, and many other Latin American countries for the last 27 years. We’d rather trade with the U.S. when it comes to oil and investment than with all those countries. Because we don’t really get anything from those countries. We don’t get any benefits.”
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, encounters of Venezuelan migrants just at the U.S.-Mexico border grew rapidly from 49,000 in 2021 to 188,000 in 2022, and rose to 266,000 in 2023. The high concentration of Venezuelans in metro Atlanta, diverse in age, occupation, and perspective, brings the parties together in the aftermath of Maduro’s capture. Local bars and restaurants, clubs, and Facebook groups have erupted, encouraging everyone to come wear their colors and celebrate the country’s liberation.
But it’s not “liberation,” according to many Georgia Democrats and some Republicans, who are condemning the raid. The overnight seizure of Maduro and his wife has sparked intense reactions across Georgia lawmakers and representatives.
The Congressional Black Caucus called the operation “a grave and illegal abuse of power,” and said in a statement that “while Nicolás Maduro is, in fact, an illegitimate leader, the deployment of U.S. military power to impose political change in a sovereign nation — without the consent of Congress or a clear and defined plan of action — threatens to draw the United States into an indefinite conflict in Venezuela.”
Georgia Rep. Nikema Williams called the military action “unconstitutional” and wrote on X that the American people are “looking for lower costs, not endless war.”
Former Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — who officially resigned from Congress on Monday — wrote on X that “American’s disgust with our own government’s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it.”
Boscan tells WABE that he and many other Venezuelans back Trump, and he feels frustrated reading these posts.
“You know there’s a lot of people here who don’t really know anything and they start complaining, saying ‘Oh, the U.S. just wants the oil,”‘ Boscan said.
“They have no clue. The oil has been looted by all these countries for almost three decades, and we see no benefits.”
Despite the longtime economic and political turmoil under Maduro’s authoritarian rule, divisions are sharp across the Atlanta community.
Opponents to the Trump Administration’s action gathered at the corner of Marietta Street and Centennial Olympic Park Drive on Saturday to protest. Many with the Atlanta branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation chanted that the U.S. aggressively inserting itself into the South American nation’s regime change is illegal, and held signs that read, “No blood for oil” and “U.S. out of the Caribbean.”
