The United states military operation in Venezuela prompted a swift reaction from Arturo Rios, 27, a Venezuelan living in Nice, France, this Saturday.
Rios arrived in France in 2016 to pursue his studies, earning a nursing diploma in 2020 and subsequently choosing to remain, now working at the Pasteur 2 hospital in Nice.
The news, delivered Saturday morning, didn’t entirely surprise Rios. “Since August, Trump had already brought all the aircraft carriers, the big warships, to the Caribbean. And he had warned that he was going to do it. He had already issued two ultimatums to Maduro,” he explained.
His initial reaction was relief.“For us, Maduro was not president, but a usurper. A dictator who had difficulty letting go of power. And now, knowing that he will finally be tried for some of the crimes he may have committed is a victory as a Venezuelan abroad,” Rios said.
However, relief was quickly followed by fear for family and loved ones still in Venezuela.
Rios expressed concern about potential anarchy, though not necessarily stemming from the United States.“Not as of the United States, he clarified, but from other members of the government.”
Rios’s decision to move to France in 2016 was driven by a fear for his safety. “I left my contry as I was violently physically attacked and I experienced quite disturbing situations ther. I experienced the civil war, I saw the soldiers shooting demonstrators from a few meters away while I was there with my mother and father. I was a teenager.I always grew up in Venezuela knowing that I couldn’t see myself making a life there,” he recalled.
“We wanted Him to Be Judged”
Rios admitted he hadn’t anticipated this particular turn of events. “But we wanted him to be tried for the crimes he committed, and also all the people who are part of his political party, all those who contributed to these twenty-six years of dictatorship, kidnappings, imprisonment, torture, everything,” he stated.
He grappled with the role of former President Trump,questioning whether he was a liberator or simply opportunistic.“It’s hard to say because Trump, I don’t agree at all with his ideas, his policies. But in the meantime, Trump, despite being what he is, is the only person who has done something for venezuela. Concretely,I mean. He did the dirty work, I’m grateful to him for that,” Rios conceded.
Looking ahead, Rios believes the Venezuelan people have already made their choice. “The Venezuelan people have already chosen Edmundo González as president. He was elected but his election, recognized by the whole world, was not recognized by the military,” he noted.
His greatest hope for Venezuela is that the military will align with the will of the people. “Let the military finally be on the side of the people, who want to move forward. We are ready to rebuild the country. We just hope that the policies we have chosen will rebuild Venezuela and help it become a world power again as it was in the 1960s,” he said.
Having applied for French nationality, Rios has no plans to return to Venezuela. “I made my life here. I feel as much French as Venezuelan today. I have never gone back as I am afraid of reprisals,” he explained.
