Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:34] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted and happy new year. I hope you all got some rest and rejuvenation over the holidays. And maybe you are getting back into your morning routine like I am, or maybe you’ve got a new New Year’s resolution to be more informed about what’s going on locally in your community. Whatever the reason, I’m so glad you’re here. And me and the rest of the Bay team are excited to bring you new episodes of the show in 2026 right here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So I just wanna say, make sure you hit the subscribe button so that you and I stay locked in. All right, here’s the show.
Donald Trump: [00:01:32] Late last night and early today, at my direction, the United States Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:49] Over the weekend, President Trump made an astonishing announcement. In the dead of night, the US military had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores, accusing Maduro of trafficking deadly and illicit drugs into the United States.
Donald Trump: [00:02:13] Right now, they’re on a ship they’ll be heading to, ultimately, New York, and then a decision will be made. But we have people where the overwhelming evidence of their crimes will be presented in a court of law.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:31] On Monday, Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court, with the ousted leader telling the judge that he was kidnapped from home. Here in the Bay Area, lawmakers, including Representatives Ro Khanna and Lateefah Simon, have responded to Trump’s actions with a mix of shock and anger.
Ro Khanna: [00:02:56] Let’s be clear what we did here. We went in and invaded another country to take their oil. It is immoral. It was a violation of the Constitution, and it’s a violation if everything America stands for.
Lateefah Simon: [00:03:09] Yeah, what I think is just so extraordinary is that I found out about these strikes as you did. Congress doesn’t exist to be briefed after the bombs fall.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:22] And Bay Area residents, especially those with connections in Venezuela, are afraid of what this could mean for the country, while others feel relief that Maduro is out of power.
Carolina Morales: [00:03:37] I’m terrified of Venezuela becoming Iraq, Afghanistan. I mean, so many examples, Palestine.
Guillermo Useche: [00:03:46] When it wasn’t news that Maduro got captured, I definitely felt joy and somehow a relief or like a justice, a feeling of justice being served.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:04:00] Today, you’re gonna hear a tapestry of reactions from across the bay to Trump’s arrest of Venezuela’s president. We’ll be right back.
Reporter: [00:04:20] First could you tell me your name and how to spell it.
Rubi Nino: [00:04:23] My name is Rubi Nino R-U-B-I. Well, this morning I woke up and saw my cell phone and I had a lot of missed calls from my siblings, from my parents. And I picked up the phone and they said, hello Ruby, Maduro is gone. And I started to cry.
Rubi Nino: [00:04:47] I called them back, we made a video call with the family, and we all cried together with emotion, joy. And we enjoyed that moment that we’ve waited for so long.
Rubi Nino: [00:04:57] We had been waiting for this moment for so long. 25 years, that’s a big part of my life.
Rubi Nino: [00:05:10] A large part of my life has been spent watching my country suffer and it has suffered so much. So much theft, so much dictatorship, so many problems, so much extortion. So there have been many years of suffering, of war, of pain, of sadness, of anxiety, of watching innocent people die.
Rubi Nino: [00:05:33] I’m not the one to say what the United States can or cannot do. All I know is that I’m grateful for this day and for this moment, because we have suffered too much. And today was the day God intended. That is, it could have been another place, it would have been a another country, it could have another president, but it was the president of this country who allowed this to happen and who took on the trouble to go to Venezuela and remove President Maduro. So I only have gratitude in my heart, so much gratitude, because as I already said and I repeat, today is a day of victory. And we can never forget that God used Trump as an instrument to take this great step. That’s what I think.
Carolina Morales: [00:06:30] I mean I’m very emotional about what’s going on. My parents are there, my family is there, I have a lot of friends there and I’m scared for them. I’m Carolina Morales, and I have been an organizer for social justice in San Francisco and the Bay Area for about 20 years. I’m terrified of Venezuela becoming Iraq, Afghanistan, I mean, so many examples, Palestine, Honduras, right? Was it 2009 or 10? Taken out? Is the military going to start bombing more? I don’t know. I’m honestly very terrified because I am aware of the history of the United States in other countries and I can see what our federal administration is currently doing within our own borders in the U.S. So if there have been very little limits. Here, I can’t imagine what horrors our peoples in Venezuela might be facing. I mean, I think we need to remember, regardless of our opinions around the Venezuelan government and their management of the country, that everyday people in Venezuela need food, need medication. My father has cancer. He actually has to start radiation. We have over 150 sanctions at Venezuela. Has had to suffer through already difficulty finding medication in certain items or being able to find them but so expensive that sometimes it’s prohibitive so if like what the consequence of this is actually going to be more suffering and having people die in more terrible ways and what’s our responsibility as U.S. Citizens in this moment
Alejandro: [00:09:11] There are a lot of emotions at play. We feel joy, but at the same time, bewilderment. We’re excited, but also worried about our families. It’s very confusing. It’s a very, very confusing time.
Alejandro: [00:09:26] No Venezuelan, was prepared for this intervention to happen. We had already been in this situation for more than 20 years, and in a way, many people had even lost hope that this would ever happen. The fact that the United States intervened and Maduro is no longer in power doesn’t mean that the evil has been eradicated. Because the destruction of a country is not the responsibility of just one person. There are many bad people. People who are still in power in Venezuela. But the fact that one of them is gone is a step forward. It’s better than nothing.
Alejandro: [00:10:12] I belong to this generation of young people who are deprived of their right to vote, their right to education, their right with their families, their rights to be in their own country. And we are forced to go abroad, to do all sorts of things we didn’t want to do, just in the hope of surviving and one day having the dignified life that was denied to us in our country.
Alejandro: [00:10:40] When you don’t know what has happened in Venezuela over the last 20-25 years, you can’t give an opinion. Because to outsiders, even though it might look like an aggressive invasion, we know that’s what had to happen for that man to leave. Because nobody was going to get him out through dialog. So sometimes, unfortunately, you have to resort to aggression to solve some things. And that’s happened. And it worked.
