DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump shared the reaction of a 20-year-old man in Miami-Dade County who was celebrating the U.S. military’s capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Edgar Rodriguez was at a rally with hundreds of other Venezuelans, Venezuelan Americans, and their supporters at El Arepazo in Doral when he talked to Local 10 News.
“My chest, it feels like it’s going to explode with joy because … before I was even born, there have been struggles that my family has been fighting for, so many years, before I was even here -- they have told me about it," Rodriguez said. “They told me about a time where democracy existed, and now I can finally look forward to that -- and that’s just everything, everything that I can ask for.”
Trump and Elon Musk shared the story on Truth Social and X. After more than 11 million views, Rodriguez said he was amazed.
“I felt like, ‘Wow!’ My voice has really reached every single corner of the world,” Rodriguez said, adding that it was a “beautiful” message of gratitude.
Rodriguez was born in San Cristóbal, the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Táchira, near the border with Colombia. He said his parents worked in education and decided to move to South Florida when he was 11.
Rodriguez is among the Venezuelan migrants and refugees who have had to face indignities while Nicolás Maduro was in power. He said he had to share a small apartment with a dozen people and often had just one meal a day.
As Venezuelans struggled with food shortages and a crumbling health and education system, Rodriguez said he remembers the amazement he felt the first time he walked into a Publix Supermarket with full shelves. It changed his sense of possibility.
“Venezuelans are good people, the greatest people that I know. I can vouch for them. We are good. We are working hard ... President Donald Trump and Maria Corina Machado just created an opportunity for us to begin working harder than ever,” because that’s what we have always been doing. But now, we will be working in our country," Rodriguez said, adding, “We also have worked so hard here in the United States.
“I just want to thank you, America, Thank you for giving us this opportunity to work.”
Rodriguez said that he felt a sense of responsibility and worked hard. He was admitted to Advanced Placement classes and earned a scholarship at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
During the graduation ceremony for his bachelor’s degree at UF, Rodriguez said he displayed his Venezuelan flag and showed it off on the Jumbotron.
“I live and breathe the struggles of my people,” Rodriguez said after his message went viral.
Rodriguez said he dreams of working in education with a focus on public service. He was following the updates on Maduro and Venezuela.
On Monday, Maduro and Flores arrived at federal court in Manhattan and pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges. The U.S. didn’t recognise Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. The next court hearing is on March 17.
During the United Nations Security Council’s emergency meeting on Monday in New York City. Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s UN ambassador, said Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president, had been sworn into office as the acting president.
On Sunday, State Secretary Marco Rubio said the U.S. was enforcing an “oil quarantine.” On Saturday, Trump announced his administration planned to allow U.S. companies to control Venezuela’s oil industry, so oil stocks were sharply higher on Monday.
Related story: Cuba says 32 Cuban officers were killed in US action in Venezuela
Here is a timeline of events during Operation Absolute Resolute:
At about 10:45 p.m. on Jan. 2: President Donald Trump issued the order to move forward with Maduro’s capture. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine said every branch of the U.S. military worked with the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency before Trump moved forward with the mission.
At about 1 a.m. on Jan. 3: A U.S. military team captured Maduro and Flores, according to Cain.
At about 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 3: The team, Maduro, and Flores were over the water and landed on the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.
At about 4:25 a.m. on Jan. 3: Trump announced the capture and extraction from Venezuela after “a large-scale strike.”
At about 7:25 a.m. on Jan. 3: U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced the cases against Maduro and Flores, “two alleged international narco traffickers,” were in the Southern District of New York. Maduro faced charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
At about 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 3: Maduro and Flores arrived at the Stewart Air National Guard base in Windsor, New York.
Here is a timeline of some of U.S. actions before Maduro’s capture:
Nov. 18, 2013: The U.S. Justice Department announced that a senior official with the Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela, or BANDES, a state-run economic development bank in Venezuela, admitted to corruption involving accounts in Switzerland.
Feb. 13, 2017: The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, who Maduro had appointed as the Venezuelan vice president on Jan. 4, 2017.
May 29, 2019: The State Department announced that a Venezuelan-American businessman based in Miami admitted to his role in a bribery scheme involving Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. and the Citgo Petroleum Corporation.
July 25, 2019: The U.S. Justice Department indicted Alex Nain Saab Moran, a close associate of Maduro, for money laundering related to foreign corruption.
Aug. 5, 2019: The U.S. Embassy in Venezuela reported that nearly 90% of hospitals in Venezuela reported shortages of medicine and inconsistent water supplies.
Sept. 17, 2019: The U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions related to Saab’s network.
March 26, 2020: The Justice Department announced the filing of federal charges against Maduro and 14 current and former Venezuelan officials in New York City, Washington, DC, and Miami.
The State Department announced there was a $15 million reward for Maduro’s capture and a $10 million reward for El Aissami Maddah, the former Venezuelan vice president.
Sept. 29, 2020: The State Department announced there was a $10 million reward for Pedro Luis Martin-Olivares, the former chief of the Venezuelan intelligence service. There were also announcements about a $5 million reward for Jesus Alfredo Itriago, the former chief of Venezuela’s counter-narcotics agency, and a $5 million reward for Rodolfo McTurk-Mora, the former head of Interpol in Venezuela.
Jan. 19, 2021: The State Department announced that the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had designated and blocked three companies in Russia, Ukraine, and Venezuela and identified six vessels allegedly “involved in the lifting and transport of Venezuelan oil” in an effort to “limit” Maduro’s options.
Nov. 9, 2023: U.S. Department of Agriculture releases the Analysis of the 2022 Venezuela Food Security Situation reporting that the economy had declined 88% from 2012 to 2020, and the food supply growth did not fully meet the needs of Venezuelans.
Aug. 1, 2024: The State Department announced the U.S. did not recognize Maduro as the winner of the presidential election on July 28, 2024, in Venezuela.
Jan. 10, 2025: The U.S. offers a $25 million reward for the capture of Diosdado Cabello Rondón, a Venezuelan minister, and a $15 million reward for the capture of Vladimir Padrino López, a Venezuelan four-star general.
Jan. 20, 2025: Trump expands foreign terrorist organizations’ designation.
Feb. 20, 2025: The Trump administration designates Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.
July 25, 2025: The U.S. Treasury announced the Cartel de Los Soles was to be treated as a “specially designated global terrorist.”
Aug. 7, 2025: State Secretary Marco Rubio announced that the reward for Maduro’s capture had increased to $50 million under the U.S. Narcotics Rewards Program.
Aug. 19, 2025: The U.S. Navy deploys three guided-missile destroyers to the southern Caribbean near Venezuela.
Sept. 2, 2025: The U.S. military reported killing 11 drug trafficking suspects during a strike in the Caribbean. After a controversial strike killed the two survivors of an initial strike, more followed on Sept. 15 and 19.
Oct. 2, 2025: Trump declared drug trafficking suspects as “unlawful combatants.”
Oct. 3, 2025: The U.S. military carried out a fourth fatal strike in the Caribbean, a fifth on Oct. 14, a sixth on Oct. 16, a seventh on Oct. 17, an eighth on Oct. 21, a ninth on Oct. 22, and a tenth on Oct. 24.
Oct. 15, 2025: Trump announced that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.
Oct. 24, 2025: The Pentagon deploys the USS Gerald R. Ford to the southern Caribbean.
Nov. 10, 2025: After several fatal strikes in the Pacific, the Pentagon announced there was a fatal strike in the Caribbean.
Nov. 16, 2025: The USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in the Caribbean.
Nov. 24, 2025: Rubio announced that the Cartel De Los Soles was a foreign terrorist organization headed by “Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary.”
Dec. 1, 2025: The USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in St. Thomas.
Dec. 10, 2025: The U.S. seized an oil tanker with Venezuelan oil off the coast of Venezuela.
Dec. 16, 2025: Trump announced a blockade on all “sanctioned oil tankers” going to and leaving Venezuela.
Dec. 20, 2025: The U.S. seized a second tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Dec. 30, 2025: The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions related to Iran-Venezuela trade in Mohajer-6, a combat drone with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. The Associated Press reported the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area in Venezuela.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
