The capture and arrest of former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro continue to draw reactions ranging from celebration to concern in the Sunshine State.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly backed the arrest on Monday, while anti-US intervention protestors demonstrated outside Florida’s Capitol over the weekend.
Tallahassee community activist Delilah Pierre helped organize the protest in the wake of Maduro’s ouster. Pierre is part of a group of people who regularly protest the actions of the Trump administration.
“When the United States gets involved in another country's foreign politics, that means death, destruction and despair for that country,” she said.
Carlos Garrido, the president of the Florida State University Venezuelan Student Association isn’t impressed by the actions of the protestors. He said as someone who's parents were born in Venezuela and spending a large chunk of his childhood there, he believes the administration made the right move in removing Maduro from power.
“It's very like, depressing and sad seeing those kinds of people that are defending the Maduro regime. That's a regime, that are narcotraffickers that only is there to harm the people that has caused 8 million displacements of its citizens,” he said.
The United States has accused the now-former Venezuelan president of working with international drug trafficking groups for decades to ship illegal drugs into the U.S. Skeptics of the claim also say the U.S. is very much interested in Venezuela’s oil industry—which American companies helped grow only to lose control later on.
Garrido says the concerns about the US being involved because of the country’s oil reserves are valid, but that he would rather see America have financial relationships with Venezuela over countries like Iran or China.
“The United States obviously has good intentions, but those intentions come with a cost. And as me, myself, my family, friends that are Venezuelan, they rather give their natural resources to the U.S. than keep having this regime and giving it to U.S. adversaries,” he said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis broke his silence on the Trump Administration’s move during a press conference Monday. Florida has one of the highest populations of Venezuelans—many who’ve arrived within the last few years due to economic and political turmoil in the country during Maduro’s tenure.
“He deserves to be brought to justice, and my sincere hope is that the people of Venezuela are going to be able to liberate themselves from the yolk of the Chavez Maduro reign, because it has been one of the most destructive reigns of any in the Western Hemisphere's history,” he said.
The Florida College Democrats are among groups weighing in on the United States’ involvement in Venezuela.
The group put out a statement supporting the ousting of Maduro, but expressing concern about further US involvement in the country's government.
The group’s president, Madalyn Propst said they does not think the Trump administration will support democracy in the country.
“In Trump's address about the entire situation, he said that we would be running the country, and it everything that he's put out has pointed to simply using them for their oil. So more than anything, we just want, we want the Venezuelan people to rule over Venezuela,” she said.
Florida Republican college organizations have largely applauded the operation that arrested Maduro, explicitly crediting Secretary of State Marco Rubio for its success.
Maduro is currently facing drug and weapons charges in New York.