NPR reporter flabbergasted over ‘absolutely surreal’ results in Venezuela following Maduro raid

An NPR reporter reacted with shock to discovering how much better off the Venezuelans are with dictator Nicolás Maduro having been ousted.

“It is absolutely surreal because … you go out on the streets and people here tell you that they feel like a weight has been lifted,” NPR correspondent Eyder Peralta reported on Friday. “For the first time in a long time, there are street protests.”

“Opposition groups are holding public meetings. I was at the justice department building yesterday, and there was a group of protesters calling for all political prisoners to be released,” he added.

Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodríguez is now thanking President Trump — weeks after U.S. strikes led to the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro.

She’s standing beside Sec. Doug Burgum.

Trump’s foreign policy is looking like a masterclass.pic.twitter.com/7cgbmYbmQw

— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) March 5, 2026

He also recalled seeing Edward Ocariz, a former political prisoner who’d “faced the wrath of this government,” now freely running his mouth.

“Then, right there in public, he taunted the government,” Peralta noted as he played a clip of Ocariz speaking.

“They call us traitors, but look at them now,” Ocariz said in Spanish. “Now it’s them who are not only kneeling, but sleeping with the United States.”

“And to be clear, he [Ocariz] thinks the U.S. intervention was regrettable, but he also thinks that something good came out of it, and that allows him to say this in public without being thrown back in prison,” Peralta continued.

He also said he saw “lots of smiles” among the crowd when U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited to broker a deal with the interim government for access to Venezuela’s minerals.

“And those are the minerals in your laptop, for example, and he says Venezuela likely has those minerals,” Peralta said. “American companies would like to extract them, and Venezuela could suddenly become key in helping the U.S. break reliance on China — a win-win, he called it. And yesterday, Trump said, quote, ‘Venezuela is working.’ Once again, he was framing it as the model for regime change.”

Eye-opening video: Maduro’s regime turned Venezuela into a proxy for Russia, China, and Iran, causing mass exodus and suffering. U.S. action is about restoring freedom, as per opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

A must-see for understanding the bigger picture. pic.twitter.com/xVD1ASGLP9

— (@pr0ud_americans) January 6, 2026

All this comes as the U.S. and Venezuela have agreed to reestablish relations for the first time since 2019.

“Our engagement is focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

“The United States remains committed to supporting the Venezuelan people and working with partners across the region to advance stability and prosperity,” the statement continued.

Both the U.S. and Venezuela “closed their embassies mutually” in 2019 “after U.S. President Donald Trump gave public support to Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó,” according to PBS News.

According to a recent nationwide poll conducted by Gold Glove Consulting, the Venezuelan people are hopeful about a post-Maduro future.

According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), the poll “found that Venezuelans were overwhelmingly optimistic (83 percent), more than half (55 percent) supported Maduro’s arrest, and majorities approved of U.S. action to stop drug flows (92 percent), expel Cuban and Iranian advisers (68 percent), and cease the sale of sanctioned oil to U.S. adversaries, such as China and Cuba (53 percent).”

However, the poll also found that the Venezuelan people believe elections should be held within a year.

“Venezuelans are asking the rest of the world to share our sense of urgency,” Miguel Pizarro, a former National Assembly member, said. “What, for a lot of people, started on January 3, for the Venezuelan people, started more than 20 years ago.”

Venezuela Presidential Election Poll

Machado (Center-Right): 67%
Rodríguez (Far-Left): 25%

FT | 1/24-26 | 1,000 pic.twitter.com/Jh4HFXbbTq

— Ashley (TeamTrump47) (@TeamTrump47) February 14, 2026

According to CSIS, if an election were held today, Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, would be trounced by exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s party.

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