DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Venezuelans in “Little Venezuela” — the largest home for the country’s natives in the United States — are welcoming the news that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize with bittersweetness as deportation threats loom.
The Trump administration has ended Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole programs that together allowed more than 700,000 Venezuelans to live and work legally in the U.S, putting them at risk of deportation. The Republican government has deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, claiming that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and were “invading” the U.S.
Millions of Venezuelans had been forced to leave their country in the last decade due to its prolonged economic and political instability; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates more than 7.7 million have left since 2014 in the largest exodus in Latin America in recent history. Most have settled in the Americas, and more than 1 million came to the U.S.
While Machado’s Nobel win is being met with joy, there’s also acknowledgement that it will do little to improve the situation Venezuelans at risk of deportation face in the U.S., as the former opposition presidential candidate has aligned herself with President Donald Trump’s policy on Venezuela.
In February, after Trump announced he was ending TPS for Venezuelans, Machado told reporters her team had been in contact with members of Congress to “find a type of effective protection” for law-abiding Venezuelans. But after the Supreme Court on Oct. 3 allowed the Trump administration to end the program, she expressed no concerns of progress in her effort for an alternative protection for migrants.
Machado, honored for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in Venezuela as President Nicolás Maduro took power, wrote on X hours after her win dedicating her prize to “the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
Frank Carreño, the former president of the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce who has lived in Doral, the city known as “Little Venezuela,” for 18 years, was pleased with the news that Machado won the Nobel Prize but warned that Machado will not pressure Trump to protect Venezuelans living in the U.S.
“She sees the United States government as part of her strategy to restore democracy to Venezuela,” the Venezuelan American said. “She’s in that camp, not in this camp.”
José Antonio Colina, a retired Venezuelan military officer who arrived in South Florida in 2003, said the Nobel Prize represents a recognition to Machado’s fight for democracy and liberty in Venezuela.
“We hope that the award can give impetus or strength to remove Nicolas Maduro from power,” said Colina, a refugee in the U.S.
Iris Wilthew, a Venezuelan American retiree, came to Doral with her husband expecting a large crowd celebrating at one of Venezuela’s most popular restaurants. But business carried on as usual in the city, and she was surprised to find almost no one in the restaurant at noon.
Before leaving, she placed a poster with Machado’s name, her photo and the title “The Nobel Prize 2025″ and the message “#VenezuelaLibre” in one of the restaurant’s windows.
“She is a tireless fighter,” said Wilthew, who has lived in the U.S. since 1998. “She has achieved this through his extraordinary effort.”
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Associated Press reporter Regina Garcia Cano contributed from Mexico City.
