The attack on Caracas and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces set off an immediate reckoning in the DMV area. Protesters are pouring into the streets, security is tightening around federal buildings, and lawmakers are confronting the reality of an American operation that removed a foreign head of state and brought him to U.S. soil.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown to New York following what the Trump administration described as a coordinated strike aimed at dismantling narco-terrorism networks.
The Justice Department unsealed indictments charging the couple with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses. Officials said Maduro would make his first court appearance in federal court in Manhattan on Monday.
Local leaders, organizers and residents alike are rallying in response to Saturday’s attack on Venezuela and arrests, with mixed replies and emotions.
“I’m out here because the U.S., [President] Donald Trump, this fascist regime just launched a completely illegal, illegitimate invasion, kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro,” one protester said during a rally outside the White House. “Every decent person in this country needs to be sounding the alarm, speaking out, taking to the streets and saying, hands off Venezuela.”
Others questioned the administration’s priorities at home.
“While we’re cutting services to people who really need them in this country, we have no business spending money on invading other countries,” another protester said. “As much as I dislike the president now, I don’t want anybody from Venezuela coming here to kidnap him.”
Just blocks away, the mood shifted entirely. At the Simon Bolívar statue and nearby gathering points, Venezuelan refugees and immigrants embraced, cried, and waved flags, calling the arrest a turning point after years of repression.
“So many emotions, happiness,” Liliana Wright of Sterling, Virginia, said. “Leaving country, separate families. It is hard to say how we feel right now.”
Others described personal loss under Maduro’s rule.
“Very shocking and very emotional for me to finally see the demise and the conclusion of this brutal dictatorship,” Harold Dams, a Maryland resident with family ties to Venezuela, said. “We lived firsthand what happened down there. We had family members killed, kidnapped, tortured, imprisoned. We had family members that died, and we couldn’t say goodbye”
In Baltimore, protests and celebrations unfolded simultaneously. Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation rallied outside City Hall calling for Maduro’s return and demanding an end to U.S. military action abroad.
“We’re calling for hands off Venezuela, no war in Venezuela,” organizer Rachel Viqueira said. “No money for war. We want money for the poor.”
Others rejected that view, saying the arrest was long overdue.
“If people fully understood what this regime has been doing for so many years, they would better understand and be more supportive of what Trump is doing,” Ronald Oribio said. “This is a situation that needed to come to a halt, and it is finally starting.”
For supporters, the moment felt unreal.
“I was scared of waking up and seeing that it wasn’t true,” one Venezuelan woman said at a celebration near the White House. “I would like to say thank you to Donald Trump. Maybe soon I’m going to see my family again.”
For critics, the fear runs in the opposite direction, centered on what the operation signals for U.S. power abroad and what comes next.
“This is an illegal war,” Sen. Tim Kaine said. “There is no legal justification that would authorize the president to depose another country’s leader, seize its oil, and run the country.”
Leaders, Experts Respond to Attacks on Venezuela
On Capitol Hill, the operation drew both praise and alarm.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen woke up Saturday and, like everyone else, learned of the early morning United States military operation in Venezuela.
Van Hollen said the American people did not ask for a war with Venezuela, and Congress did not authorize one.
In a sharply worded statement following U.S. military strikes on Venezuela and the seizure of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Van Hollen said Trump had committed “a grave abuse of power” by launching an act of war without congressional approval and without presenting evidence of an imminent threat to the United States.
“President Trump has put our troops in harm’s way, and he has not provided a clear, fact-based rationale for these actions, nor the long term strategy following these strikes,” the Maryland senator said.
Maryland Rep. Andy Harris (R) applauded the move as a crackdown on drug trafficking, while Democrats across the region questioned its legality and warned of long-term consequences.
Weapons expert Jim Ortte said the administration appears to be framing the mission as a law enforcement action rather than a declaration of war.
“They took DEA agents with them during the operation, so you could say he is an indicted narco-terrorist,” Ortte said. “That distinction matters under the Constitution.”
Next Steps for Venezuela, Local Concerns
As emotions spilled into the streets, security tightened across Washington. The U.S. Secret Service blocked roads near the former Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown after a reported threat, prompting K-9 sweeps and temporary closures. District officials said there was no active threat but confirmed heightened coordination with federal agencies.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city had been briefed on the situation and was monitoring developments closely. Advocates estimate more than 26,000 Venezuelans live in the Washington metropolitan area, a number believed to be higher due to recent migration.
Longtime D.C. radio host Patricia De Lima said uncertainty has settled over many families.
“My family is in Venezuela, my friends are in Venezuela, and now it’s like, what’s going to happen,” she said.
Trump said the United States would temporarily oversee Venezuela until a transition is established and confirmed that U.S. officials would continue targeting alleged drug trafficking operations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration was “at war against drug trafficking organizations,” adding that it was not a war against Venezuela itself.
Still, Trump warned Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, that failure to cooperate would bring consequences.
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price,” Trump said in an interview.
Despite the president’s threats, people like De Lima still worry about her loved ones in Venezuela.
“This is a huge deal,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean much for the ordinary Venezuelan because the people in power are still there.”