QuickTake:

Nearly 200 people braved the rain at an anti-war rally in downtown Eugene Saturday, Jan. 3. But among those in Oregon who are from Venezuela, many support the military actions leading to the downfall of that country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Through megaphones or just raised voices, close to 200 people at Eugene’s downtown federal building expressed opposition to United States strikes in Venezuela, authorized by President Donald Trump, at an anti-war rally Saturday, Jan. 3.

“Today is [about] responding to the illegal act of war that Trump has just committed against Venezuela,” Kamryn Stringfield, an organizer with the Eugene chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said.

“The Trump administration has no right to kidnap a foreign head of state,” Stringfield said. “But this has happened, and so now we have to mobilize against another potential endless war.”

Among those who came to voice opposition was Jesse Maldonado, 31.

“I was in, what, fifth grade when we went into Iraq, and, you know, it’s continuing to be the U.S. – Republicans, specifically — going into foreign countries and trying to do regime changes,” Maldonado said, adding the military action amounts to the U.S. going after Venezuela’s oil resources.

About protesting, “it’s just a way of getting out here with all these other folks from town and kind of showing our frustrations and doing what we can right now,” Maldonado said. “There’s plenty to do later on, but right now, this is a good first step.”

Several Latin American leaders condemned the U.S. strikes, while others on the world stage expressed alarm and concern about principles of international law. Through a spokesperson, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said U.S. actions “constitute a dangerous precedent,” Reuters reported.

But among Venezuelans in Oregon, the mood for some was celebratory.

Laura Rincón, a Springfield resident, in a phone interview sang out in Spanish, “I feel an emotion so big that I’m glowing,” a refrain from a song popular in her home country of Venezuela, she said.

Rincón, 35, said she felt a tremendous sense of relief watching and learning about U.S. strikes that took place the previous night, along with the capture of Venezuela’s hardline leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Under Maduro, “there were many bad things that happened, things that shouldn’t have happened,” Rincón said. People were killed, while others saw businesses or promising careers crushed because “the government wouldn’t allow them to succeed.”

She said people in her home country were not free to express themselves. 

“You were intimidated to speak, intimidated to upload a photo, or post something, or share your location, or freely say things,” Rincón said Saturday.

Now, “you can speak out loudly,” said Rincón, who sells Venezuelan food items under the name El Rincón Maracucho.

Roberth Matos, who lived in the Eugene-Springfield area before moving elsewhere in the Willamette Valley, frequently posts videos about Venezuelan politics and has more than 120,000 followers on TikTok.

While some consider him to be a political analyst, “I see myself more as the voice of the people who can’t speak out, because there are many such people in Venezuela,” Matos said in a phone interview.

Matos, 37, works in the auto industry, and said he experienced persecution under Maduro after speaking out on the radio and in social media against the regime. He’s an asylum seeker with a judge’s order to be in the United States, he said.

Action by the United States “was our only hope, because in Venezuela there wasn’t going to be a military uprising against Maduro’s regime,” Matos said.

Elections in 2024 should have rightfully resulted in a change in leadership, “but Nicolás Maduro and his regime arbitrarily stole the elections and remained in power fraudulently, completely illegally,” Matos said, and observers have agreed.

Matos said he thinks a majority of Venezuelans support the United States’ actions. On social media, while only a snapshot, several posts from Venezuelans living in Oregon were celebratory.

“I think of the United States as the world’s policeman,” Matos said when asked about criticism from those who feel the U.S. overstepped its authority with the military strikes. 

If the United States doesn’t play that role, “then Russia, China, and many Arab countries will,” Matos said. “I have nothing against the citizens of these countries, you understand, but their governments have been completely authoritarian.”

About Trump’s comments that the U.S. will govern Venezuela, Matos said stability is needed.

“I do believe it is very important at this time, during this transitional period that Venezuela is experiencing, for the United States to take control of the country until all the corruption is eradicated,” Matos said Saturday. “The corrupt individuals are still in power, and they remain part of that government.”