Austin Divided Over U.S. Capture of Venezuela’s Maduro

Protesters held signs in demonstration against U.S. President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at City Hall in Austin on Jan. 03, 2026. (Kaylee Greenlee/Contributor)

For many Venezuelans in Austin, news that United States forces had captured Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, landed with a mix of relief and dread.

“This is a moment of great joy for all Venezuelans,” said Gustavo Martínez, director of communications for Asociación Venezolana de Austin. “But at the same time, (it’s) a moment of great anguish because we know that these are tense times within Venezuela and that the threats continue from those who remain part of the regime.”

Some Venezuelans planned to gather Saturday for a Catholic mass organized by the Asociación Venezolana de Austin to mark Maduro’s removal and pray for the civilians in their home country. The organizing group brings together the Venezuelan community in Austin while also supporting Texans living in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, others across the city — and the country — moved quickly to protest what they saw as overreach by the U.S. military.

'Strike while the iron’s hot'

Within hours of reports Saturday morning that U.S. forces had carried out an overnight raid to detain Maduro, protesters began planning anti-war demonstrations nationwide. Austin activists promoted a protest on social media, which was initially set for 1 p.m. Saturday before being postponed to Sunday.

Not everyone got the message.

By early Saturday afternoon, three people had arrived at City Hall, unaware the protest had been rescheduled. Rather than leave, they stayed and transformed a scheduling mix-up into an impromptu demonstration.

Jean-Luc Szpakowski makes a sign in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at City Hall in Austin on Jan. 03, 2026. (Kaylee Greenlee/Contributor)

Susana Carranza, 55, biked to the event wearing a hat emblazoned with the word “VOTE” in large white letters. She came prepared, carrying cardboard, paper, markers and tape to make signs. Two others joined her on the sidewalk, and the small group began writing their protest messages and waving them at passing cars.

Over the next hour, a handful of others filtered in. The group grew to eight people, spreading out along the road and soliciting enthusiastic honks from drivers downtown.

“If people don’t speak up and protest, then things move much faster, much worse,” Carranza said.

Carranza grew up under a dictatorship in Brazil before moving to the U.S. 30 years ago. She said U.S. actions in Venezuela felt unsettling — and familiar. She said she fears the U.S. is heading toward dictatorship.

“This is supposed to be the thing of my childhood,” she said. “Not now, not here.”

Out on the road, 51-year-old Carrie King rang a cowbell as she held her homemade sign high above her head: “No war in Venezuela,” it read.

King said her sign doesn’t even scratch the surface of the issue’s complexity, but it’s better than nothing.

“It’s well known (that) Maduro is a bad guy, but what we’ve done has superseded his corruption,” King said. “We’re unraveling this completely fragile pact that we’ve made with the world about how we’re supposed to conduct ourselves.”

Conflicting information circulated about the timing of Sunday’s official protest at City Hall — one source said 11 a.m., while another indicated 1 p.m. would be the time to gather. Many of the people who showed up Saturday said they would attend the Sunday protest, too.

Asociación Venezolana de Austin holds a mass

While the small group protested Saturday at Austin City Hall, many Venezuelans in the area responded to the news differently.

Members of the Asociación Venezolana de Austin planned a Catholic mass in North Austin on Saturday to reflect on the situation and come together in prayer.

Venezuelans in Austin and elsewhere are celebrating Maduro’s removal, Martínez said. He played a role in organizing the mass held on Saturday.

“After 26 years of fighting with the dictatorship, we got a light at the end of the tunnel,” Martínez said. “For us, we are really seeing the final solution to these horrible decades of persecution, human rights violations, kidnapping people just for a different opinion.”

“Right now we feel like this is the beginning of the end of this horrible journey,” he added.

But this moment isn’t definite, and Martínez said he and other Venezuelans know that. He said he worries that the democratic transition President Trump spoke of in a speech early Saturday won’t be easy.

“The regime is everywhere — the judges, the military, the mayors,” Martínez said. “When President Trump says we need to secure this transition to the next democratic government, it’s not easy. The regime still has control of everything in this moment.”

When the community gathers for Mass, he said on Saturday afternoon, they would praying not only for those still in Venezuela, but also for Venezuelans in the U.S. who could be targeted as immigration restrictions are tightened.

“This is the moment to pray for our people,” Martínez said. “Pray for Venezuela and pray to God that everything in our country gets better, and also for the situation for Venezuelans in the U.S.”