After the U.S. outs Maduro, Toronto’s Venezuelans uncertain about the future of their country

Venezuelans in Toronto are wondering what will happen next after the United States captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife.

Early Saturday, the U.S. hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” and moved Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform hours after the attack.

The Venezuelan government called it an “imperialist attack” and urged citizens to take to the streets.

The U.S. is “going to run” Venezuela until a “proper transition can take place,” Trump said during a news conference Saturday.

Maduro and his wife were first taken aboard a U.S. warship on their way to face prosecution for a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. A plane carrying the deposed leader landed late Saturday afternoon in New York.

The situation marks Washington's most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama. The legal implications of the strike under U.S. law were not immediately clear.

In Toronto, around 30 protesters gathered outside the U.S. Consulate General Toronto on University Avenue to "denounce" the "U.S. airstrikes and abductions."

Toronto-based activist Rebecca Sarfatti is originally from Venezuela. She co-founded the Canada Venezuela Democracy Forum and created Venezolanos en Toronto — a social group that has over 14,000 members on Facebook and other social media platforms. 

Sarfatti said she first found out about the U.S. strikes through a WhatsApp group chat when someone asked about an explosion in Caracas around 2:30 a.m. 

“All the WhatsApp groups started to wake up, everybody was calling everybody … all of Venezuela was awake at that moment,” she said. 

Sarfatti said she’s happy Maduro is not in the country anymore, but she is also concerned about what will happen next. When asked about Trump’s comments to “run” Venezuela, she said the country belongs to its people. 

“Thank you Mr. Trump for helping us remove the tumor, but we need to treat our cancer,” she said. 

Sarfatti said it's actually about each Venezuelan “regaining their country” and recovering democracy, something she’s advocated for over 20 years since arriving in Canada.

“We need to become part of that international community that will work as any other country towards the democratic path," she said.