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Venezuelan “Little Venezuela” – the largest home to the country’s indigenous people in the United States – is welcoming the news that opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado won Nobel Peace Prize With bitterness at the looming threat of deportation.
The Trump administration has ended the Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole programs that allowed more than 700,000 Venezuelans to live and work legally in the US, putting them at risk of deportation. The Republican government has deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, claiming they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and were “attacking” the US.
Prolonged economic and political instability has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee their country over the past decade; The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 7.7 million people have fled to Latin America since 2014 in the largest migration in recent history. Most have settled in the US, and more than 1 million have come to the US
While Machado’s Nobel win is being celebrated, it is also being acknowledged that it will do little to improve the situation of Venezuelans facing deportation to the US, as the former opposition presidential candidate has aligned himself with President Donald Trump’s policy on Venezuela.
In February, after Trump announced he would end TPS for Venezuelans, Machado told reporters that his team was in contact with members of Congress to “find some kind of effective protection” for law-abiding Venezuelans. But he expressed no concerns about progress in his effort to create alternative protections for migrants after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end the program on October 3.
Machado, honored for her fight to achieve democratic change in Venezuela after President Nicolás Maduro took power, wrote hours after her win dedicating her award “to President Trump for his decisive support of the suffering people of Venezuela and our cause!”
Frank Carreño, former president of the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce, who has lived in Doral, a town known as “Little Venezuela” for 18 years, was pleased with the news that Machado won. nobel prize But warned that Machado would not pressure Trump to protect Venezuelans living in the US.
The Venezuelan American said, “She sees the United States government as part of its strategy to restore democracy in Venezuela.” “He is in that camp, not this camp.”
Jose Antonio Colina, a retired Venezuelan military officer who visited South Florida in 2003, said the Nobel Prize recognizes Machado’s fight for democracy and freedom in Venezuela.
“We hope this award can give inspiration or strength to remove Nicolás Maduro from power,” said Colina, a refugee in the US.
Iris Wilthew, a Venezuelan American retiree, came to Doral with her husband expecting a large crowd celebrating at Venezuela’s most popular restaurant. But business continued as usual in the city and he was surprised to find that there was almost no one in the restaurant at noon.
Before leaving, he placed a poster in a window of the restaurant bearing Machado’s name, his photograph and the title “Nobel Prize 2025” and the message “#VenezuelaLibre”.
“He is a tireless fighter. He has achieved this through extraordinary effort,” said Wilthew, who has lived in the United States since 1998.
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Associated Press reporter Regina Garcia Cano contributed from Mexico City.