MIAMI 鈥� Anxious uncertainty hangs over Venezuelan Americans such as Liz Rebecca Alarc贸n of Doral, Florida, a heavily Venezuelan city outside Miami. Routine conversations at the grocery store or at Ross Dress for Less have been overtaken by questions about whether, when and how the Trump administration might escalate its use of force against Venezuela.
鈥溾�榃hat鈥檚 going to happen?鈥欌�� friends, neighbors and shopkeepers ask each other, Alarc贸n said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what the outcome is going to be or what the strategy is.鈥�
The administration has been ratcheting up its pressure campaign against Venezuela for months with deadly boat strikes, which a range of experts in laws governing the use of armed force have denounced as illegal, and a significant buildup of U.S. Naval forces in the Caribbean. Recent days have felt like whiplash, Alarc贸n and several other Venezuelan Americans said, as military intervention seemed imminent, only to have President Donald Trump say he would be open to talks with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicol谩s Maduro.
Yet the many Venezuelans who fled to South Florida over the past 25 years 鈥� after Hugo Ch谩vez and then Maduro, his successor, came to power 鈥� do not all agree on what should happen. The differences of opinion, complicated by unease over Trump鈥檚 immigration policies, are creating tense divisions among Venezuelans in South Florida, as supporters of U.S. intervention try to drown out critics whom they consider a small minority.
鈥淚n theory, we should be united by the same thing, which is liberty for Venezuela,鈥� said Esteban Hern谩ndez Ramos, 30, who lives in Fort Lauderdale. 鈥淚n practice, there鈥檚 this division.鈥�
Hern谩ndez left Venezuela when he was 16 and now works for a right-wing media outlet that publishes pro-Trump news in Spanish. He wants the U.S. military to occupy Venezuela for a sustained period 鈥� not only to take down Maduro, who is widely seen as having stolen the country鈥檚 2024 presidential election, but also to dismantle the military leadership that has kept him in power.
Alarc贸n, 36, was born in the United States and works as a Democratic political analyst. She wants a peaceful transfer of power from Maduro to Edmundo Gonz谩lez, the diplomat who defeated Maduro in a presidential election last year more than 2-1, according to the Venezuelan opposition鈥檚 vote count. But she said she was cynical that Trump鈥檚 pressure would result in her desired outcome.
Venezuelans鈥� ties to South Florida date back decades, but their numbers grew significantly during the Ch谩vez era and again after Maduro came into power. Embraced by Miami鈥檚 influential Cuban exiles, who saw them as ideological brethren fleeing a dictatorship, Venezuelan American voters were courted by Republican politicians, who succeeded in winning many of them over.
Now, disagreeing with Trump is seen among many Venezuelan Americans as unpatriotic and disloyal 鈥� including some old enough to remember past disastrous U.S. military interventions in Latin America.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like, if you鈥檙e not 1,000% with them or you don鈥檛 want a military intervention, then you鈥檙e a collaborator,鈥� said Luis Fernando Atencio, 32, a co-founder of the Venezuelan-American Caucus, a Miami-based activist group allied with the left-leaning Latino Victory Project. He said he feared military intervention because it could result in Venezuelans being injured or killed.
The vast majority of Venezuelans in the United States oppose Maduro and would like to see him gone, said Jos茅 Antonio Colina, a former Venezuelan military officer who fled his country for Miami in 2003 after being accused of planting bombs in Caracas. The United States decided not to extradite Colina, 51, who now runs a group called Politically Persecuted Venezuelans in Exile.
鈥淪ince that regime is there by force,鈥� he said of Maduro, 鈥渋t has to be taken out by force.鈥�
But some Venezuelan Americans, including Colina, cannot accept the pressure campaign given the Trump administration鈥檚 simultaneous push to end temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants. In Doral, business owners and residents have noted that the city feels quieter as Venezuelans get deported, leave voluntarily or stay in their homes out of fear.
鈥淭here are at least 660,000 Venezuelans that are being threatened to be sent back to Venezuela under this regime that apparently is about to be attacked by the U.S. military,鈥� Adelys Ferro, another co-founder of the Venezuelan-American Caucus, said at a news conference last month. 鈥淗ow can you reconcile these realities?鈥� she asked.
Ousting Maduro should take priority over deporting Venezuelans and leaving their fate in Maduro鈥檚 hands, Colina said. He could accept Trump鈥檚 immigration policies if Maduro and his allies were no longer in charge, he added.
He and other exiles who have long condemned Maduro have lately found themselves vilified by other Venezuelans for questioning Trump. On social media, Colina said, many try to shut him down.
Such behavior, he said, 鈥渋s irresponsible and does not take into account the suffering of thousands of Venezuelans.鈥�
C茅sar Miguel Rond贸n, one of Venezuela鈥檚 best known radio journalists, who fled the country for Miami eight years ago, has also faced online attacks for voicing skepticism about Trump鈥檚 approach. He has been called a Maduro government collaborator, an attitude he says leaves little room for nuance or middle ground.
Social media has turned into 鈥渁 sort of firing squad,鈥� Rond贸n said in an interview.
鈥淗ere, I鈥檝e had to take great care in opining, for reasons very similar to why I had to be careful in Venezuela,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had to leave Venezuela precisely for opining and calling out the dictatorship. But here, the intransigence, especially among ourselves, has become something incredible.鈥�
At least some of those who criticize Rond贸n and others see any questioning of Trump鈥檚 approach as an implicit questioning of Mar铆a Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last month. She has been a strong supporter of the American pressure campaign.
鈥淚t sows many doubts,鈥� Hern谩ndez, the young conservative, said of the opposition to U.S. military intervention. He wondered whether Venezuelans in that camp truly want Maduro gone, refusing to consider that they are instead grappling with what role, exactly, the United States should play.
鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 na茂vet茅. Maybe it鈥檚 complicity,鈥� Hern谩ndez said of the skeptics鈥� hesitation. 鈥淥ne has room to debate, but what more is there to debate?鈥�
This article originally appeared in . 漏 2025 The New York Times
