‘We’re pretty happy’: Local reaction to Venezuelan conflict

Reaction from a Windsor realtor with family in Venezuela and a councillor who fled Cuba as a result of the Venezuela conflict. CTV’s Bob Bellacicco reports.

Images from Saturday’s bombing in Venezuela are cruel. Videos show the destruction as Venezuelans react with shock.

Local realtor Luis Mendez was sent images and video of the early morning mission to detain the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

Mendez has family back home and has spoken to them since the attack.

“Fear is the biggest thing they’ve been experiencing,” Mendez told CTV News.

“To hear their words describing the roof shaking and trembling and hearing those helicopters and jets flying over and listening to all those bombs and even describing the night, it just lit up like the sky was on fire. Like, that’s not a good feeling. They are definitely living in fear. They don’t know what’s going to happen, if there’s going to be more invasions that are going to lead to more bombings and that’s a big factor for them right now.”

Mendez said the capture of the Maduros is bittersweet for him and fellow Venezuelans.

“We’re pretty happy of what transpired,” Mendez said.

“He’s corrupt. He definitely violates human rights in Venezuela. He has really crippled our economy, and the Venezuelan people have suffered because of it.”

The events surrounding the capture was felt in Cuba, where Chatham-Kent councillor Michael Bondy was visiting on a humanitarian mission.

He was at his resort Saturday morning, feeling something was off when he decided to leave as soon as possible.

“I didn’t think I was going to run into physical danger,” Bondy said.

“I just thought perhaps, they might run out of fuel. Their only fuel is supplied by Venezuela and if they run out of jet fuel, well, I’m not coming home on time, and I couldn’t take that chance.”

Bondy was on a plane five and a half hours later and left four days early.

He said ATMs weren’t working, no one was taking credit cards, and he paid triple for his taxi to the airport.

In a social media post, he told his followers he was looking forward to returning to cold rain and dirty horses to clean because he works with horses.

“That felt pretty enticing in the moment when I’m feeling I’m in the movie Argo beside a pool with my bags and hoping the taxi comes. The airport was chaotic but orderly chaos; I wasn’t the only one getting out of dodge.”

Mendez said he has not returned home in 11 years because the country is plagued with high inflation, crime, and false elections.

The Venezuelan community is rather small here in the Windsor-Essex with about a hundred residents. Mendez said they’re planning to host a prayer vigil sometime in the near future.

In the meantime, he is hopeful for the future of the country but weary the takeover of Venezuela by the U.S. government.

“We’ve been a sovereign country for many decades, many hundreds of years. Ultimately speaking it needs to carry that way.”