‘All Kinds of Opinions, But We Are Happy’: Venezuelans Reflect on End of Maduro’s Rule

In Australia’s capital cities, hundreds gathered to celebrate Nicolas Maduro’s removal, and to also protest it.

Venezulean woman Ginette Villasmil holds up a sign celebrating freedom at a celebration held in Sydney's CBD, Australia on Jan. 4, 2026. Hailey Do/The Epoch Times

SYDNEY—“The dictator is not in power anymore.”

Those are the jubilant words of Isaias Vego, a 29-year-old Venezuelan Australian who has spent most of his life seeing his beloved home country under the rule of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.