I oppose Trump and still think Maduro belongs in prison. But the job’s not done | Opinion

I am a registered Democrat. I vote Democrat. I donate Democrat. I supported Clinton, Biden and Harris. And yes, I oppose the Trump administration. I believe Donald Trump has authoritarian instincts and treats democracy like a prop, not a principle.

I start there because it matters.

Over the last few days, I have watched many Democrats protest the U.S. military action that led to Nicolás Maduro’s capture. I have seen the slogans: “Hands off Venezuela,” “Stop the kidnapping.”

I want to say this clearly, from one Democrat to another, and from one Venezuelan to anyone who cares about human beings.

There is not a single Venezuelan I know, not one, who was not overjoyed when Maduro was apprehended.

Maduro is not a misunderstood anti-imperialist icon. He is the head of a brutal dictatorship that destroyed a nation. His regime shut down media, jailed people for their opinions, tortured dissidents, killed protesters and crushed peaceful resistance.

If you are Venezuelan, you do not need statistics. You have names. Every family carries at least one story of prison, disappearance or exile.

Venezuela was once one of Latin America’s most prosperous and optimistic countries. We were not perfect, but we were functioning. We were building.

They broke it.

Nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled the country, one of the largest displacement crises in the world. This did not happen by accident. It happened because dictatorship hollowed out a nation until staying became impossible.

Here is what many Democrats miss: For years, the Venezuelan opposition chose nonviolence. We marched. We voted. We organized. We did exactly what democracies ask people to do. And we won elections again and again.

And the regime did what dictators do. It ignored the results, twisted institutions, disqualified candidates, intimidated voters and jailed those who protested.

So when I hear “Hands off Venezuela,” it lands as hands off the dictatorship, hands off the prisons, hands off the stolen elections.

You can oppose Trump and still believe Maduro belongs in prison. These ideas are not in conflict.

Some Democratic leaders I deeply admire have called the military action unlawful and a violation of sovereignty. I understand that concern. Truly.

But Venezuelan sovereignty was compromised long ago. Venezuela today is not fully sovereign. It functions as a client state of Russia, Iran and Cuba. What the country lives under is not simply authoritarianism, but occupation by proxy.

I understand the discomfort with U.S. military intervention. Latin America carries scars from past failures, and those lessons matter. But Venezuela’s situation is closer to Panama in 1989 than to Iraq. The removal of Manuel Noriega was imperfect, but it ended a violent dictatorship and led to lasting democratic stability.

I am not naïve about Trump’s motives. Oil and power clearly factor into his decisions. I wish they did not. But Venezuelans do not have the luxury of waiting for morally pure actors while a dictatorship continues to torture and imprison its people. Every peaceful option has been exhausted.

And this story is not over.

Many Venezuelans went from joy when Maduro was captured to deep unease after the press conference and the messaging that followed. Removing one man is not enough. What we want is a democratic transition that is legitimate and protected.

For the Venezuelan democratic movement, the leader is María Corina Machado. And the president-elect, in the eyes of millions of Venezuelans, is Edmundo González Urrutia. The opposition won the July 28 election by a landslide. The United States has recognized González as the winner and as president-elect. The European Parliament has recognized him as the legitimate, democratically elected president, despite the election’s extreme unfairness.

The job is not done.

We need your support to ensure that Edmundo González Urrutia is not only recognized, but able to govern, and that Venezuela is finally allowed to choose its own future.

So my ask is simple. Do not erase Venezuelans with slogans.

If you want to stand for democracy, stand with Venezuelans.

Hands on democracy. Michel Hausmann, who was born in Venezuela, is the artistic director of Miami New Drama at the Colony Theater.

This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 9:39 PM.