Venezuelans have 'hope' for country's future

Venezuelan nationals living in north-east England say they feel hopeful about the future of their country.

Earlier in January, president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces during an overnight raid on the capital Caracas and the action has divided opinion.

In the following days, a protest held in Newcastle city centre by Stop the War protestors called for "the return of the president as soon as possible".

However, retired economist and politician Harold Padilla, 78, who moved to Newcastle from Venezuela two years ago, said he felt his people were finally being helped.

About eight million Venezuelans have moved away from their home country since 2015 amid an ongoing economic and political crisis there.

It is believed there are about 21,000 living in the UK.

Although Padilla said he was very happy in his new North East home, he said he missed his home country a lot, even more so given current circumstances.

He said: "When Donald Trump decided to take the action that he did, we have to thank him, a lot, that he has taken the initiative to help us, to seek the freedom for Venezuela that has cost us so much."

He added he now had "a lot of hope" and hoped to go back one day.

But Dr David Andersen, associate professor of US politics at Durham University, said an event like this was "nearly unprecedented".

He said the reaction around the world in general was that "countries are appalled" and there are worries that if the actions taken by the USA are deemed acceptable, other countries could follow suit.

On its website, Stop the War said such acts were "endangering the calls for peace in the entire region of the Caribbean and Latin America".

However Chiara Ingravallo, a Venezuelan national who moved to Newcastle four years ago to study, said she also felt hopeful.

She fled her home country with her family when she was a teenager.

The 24-year-old said she recalled a lot of "criminality, insecurity" and problems with food and rationing.

"I remember going to the shopping centres and there were massive queues for just normal food," she said.

"I have the feeling that this might be for the better. It just seems like a step in the right direction."

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