Venezuelans in Florida celebrate capture of Nicolas Maduro

Members of the Venezuelan community in Doral, Florida gathered outside El Arepazo, a popular eatery in a gas station, to celebrate the capture of Venezuela's long-serving autocratic President Nicolas Maduro by the United States.

In an early morning social media post on Saturday (January 3) President Donald Trump said the U.S. attacked Venezuela and deposed Maduro in Washington's most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.

Wearing the colors of the Venezuelan flag, people cheered, waved signs and sang the country's national anthem.

"Today, justice is being served. Justice is being served for all the Venezuelans who left our country to demonstrate who we are," said Kirvin Suarez, a member of Doral's large Venezuelan community.

Ahead of the overnight strikes, the U.S. had accused Maduro of running a "narco-state" and rigging the 2024 election, which the opposition said it won overwhelmingly.

The Venezuelan leader, a 63-year-old former bus driver handpicked by the dying Hugo Chavez to succeed him in 2013, has denied those claims and said Washington was intent on taking control of his nation's oil reserves, the largest in the world.

The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in its backyard region since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago to depose military leader Manuel Noriega over similar allegations.

Production: Marco Antonio Bello, Pavithra George/Reuters