A Venezuelan Jewish leader expressed renewed hope for a return to democracy after President Nicolás Maduro’s capture in a US operation, seeing it as a potential turning point following years of authoritarian rule and economic turmoil.

Miguel Truzman, president of the Confederation of Israelite Associations of Venezuela — the umbrella organization for Venezuelan Jews — described the moment as being met with “faith, hope, and optimism” for Venezuelan families and the nation’s future.

“The American military’s operations across different parts of the country caught us by surprise. It’s truly an extraordinary moment,” Truzman told Spain-based Radio Sefarad in an interview earlier this week.

“Thanks to the careful execution of the operation, the physical safety of most Venezuelans was not at risk,” he said.

“We are now closely following these remarkable events in Venezuela and hope for stability as the country enters a new year shaped by these changes. We face the future with faith, hope, and optimism — for both families and the nation,” Truzman continued. 

On Saturday night, the US launched a major military operation in Venezuela that struck state infrastructure and captured long-serving President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores — in Washington’s most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.

Shortly afterward, Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodríguez, 56, was formally sworn in as the country’s interim president. She demanded the “immediate release” of Maduro and his wife, arguing that the arrests were made under false pretenses as part of a broader effort to impose regime change and seize the country’s natural resources

“The country is gradually returning to normal — synagogues, for example, have reopened their doors for daily services,” Truzman said during his interview. 

“Venezuela is entering a new chapter of governance. For our community, the most important focus is preserving our daily Jewish life, fostering connections with other religious communities, and safeguarding the well-being of our members,” he continued. 

“The Jewish community of Venezuela is a Zionist community that strongly supports the State of Israel as a sovereign nation, with a legitimate right to exist, defend itself, and maintain its territorial integrity,” Truzman said. 

On Monday, Maduro and his wife appeared in US federal court in New York City, pleaded not guilty to drug‑trafficking and other criminal charges, and were scheduled to return for their next hearing on March 17.

Accused of overseeing a cocaine‑trafficking network that worked with several violent groups across Latin America, Maduro faces criminal charges including narco‑terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.

Simy Blomer Benchimol, a Venezuelan living in Spain, also expressed hope that the US intervention could open the door to democracy after years of authoritarian rule.

“I believe it’s a price worth paying if it means we can live in peace,” Benchimol told Radio Sefarad in an interview earlier this week.

“No one is scared — in fact, people are feeling hopeful,” she said. “After 26 years, even if progress is slow, I’m happy to see change beginning. No one went out to defend the regime.”

“This had to be done. We’ve fought for years in every possible way — even holding completely fair elections — and they stole everything from us,” Benchimol continued. “There was no other way to remove this government — this isn’t a kidnapping, but the arrest of someone who has caused immense harm to the country and the world.”

Many international observers and US allies have maintained that the Venezuelan opposition movement was cheated of victory in the 2024 election.

Venezuela’s Jewish community, once one of Latin America’s largest, has declined to roughly 3,000 – 5,000 people today, mostly in Caracas.

Maduro has a long history of antisemitic rhetoric, falsely claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t an “authentic Jew,” accusing Israel of seeking to dominate Central Asia and the Middle East and to control the US, and repeatedly praising Hamas and other terrorist groups as “freedom fighters.”

The Venezuelan leader has also previously claimed that “Zionists” were facilitating Venezuela’s takeover as the United States intensified its recent military campaign targeting drug trafficking and “narco-terrorist” networks near the country.

“There are those who want to hand this country over to the devils — you know who, right? The far-right Zionists want to hand this country over to the devils,” Maduro said during a televised speech in November.

In 2024, Maduro also blamed “international Zionism” for the large-scale anti-government protests that erupted across the country following the presidential elections, in which he claimed victory amid widespread claims of fraud.

Venezuela cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 under then-President Hugo Chávez, and the two countries have had no formal relations since then.

Meanwhile, under Maduro, Venezuela has strengthened its ties with Iran, becoming an increasingly important financial and operational base for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, the Iranian regime’s chief proxy force in the Middle East.

Jewish groups and several members of Parliament in the United Kingdom are calling for the chief constable of the West Midlands Police (WMP) to lose his job after the police force was accused on Tuesday of hiding evidence about anti-Israel locals who were threatening violence against fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv.

WMP Chief Constable Craig Guildford appeared before the Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday for a second round of questioning regarding the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, whom police claimed were “uniquely violent,” from attending a Europa League soccer match against Aston Villa in Birmingham on Nov. 6 last year.

Documents revealed on Tuesday showed that the police’s initial public safety concerns surrounding the soccer match were not because of behavior displayed by Maccabi fans, but due to “high confidence intelligence” that police received on Sept. 5 about locals in the predominantly Muslim area of West Midlands who wanted to “arm” themselves” against Maccabi fans because they are from Israel. Birmingham City Council Leader John Cotton told the committee on Tuesday that police did not share with him the intelligence they received and their honest reasoning for banning Israeli fans.

Conservative MP Karen Bradley, who chaired the committee, accused the police force of “scraping” to justify their ban against Israeli soccer fans from attending the game on Nov. 6. She told WMP officials on Tuesday: “It feels to us like you felt you needed to justify banning these fans and that scraping was done to find a reason.”

In a post on X, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Guildford’s position was now “untenable.”

“West Midlands police capitulated to Islamists and then collaborated with them to cover it up,” she said. “They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead. They presented an inversion of reality and misled a parliamentary committee. We have had enough of this in Britain. The British police serve the British public, not local sectarian interests.”

Tory MP Nick Timothy, who is an Aston Villa fan and former Home Office special adviser, also called for Guildford to be fired on Tuesday. “What was left of the credibility of West Midlands police has been destroyed” following the evidence presented to the committee, he wrote on X.

“We learned earlier that their initial reason for banning Israelis from Villa Park was the danger *to* away fans *from* ‘armed’ locals. But to justify the ban they portrayed the Israelis as ‘uniquely violent’ and military-trained,” he explained. “And when the Home Affairs Select Committee asked why the vital information about the danger *to* Israelis was kept secret, the chief constable ludicrously said it was because he had not been asked for it. “

“He is too arrogant to resign,” the MP added about Guilford. “The home secretary has the power to remove him under Section 40 of the Police Act 1996. She should use it.”

Timothy further criticized the police force, saying, “We basically had the mob saying we’re not prepared to have Israelis come to the city we live in and the police decided to appease the mob — and we all know where appeasement ends.” He also accused WMP of “lying” repeatedly in an effort to explain their ban against Maccabi fans and failing to take on “extreme elements in the communities they are supposed to police.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Tuesday’s committee hearing was “yet another disgraceful performance from West Midlands police.” He added that the meeting clearly showed “the threat of armed Islamist thugs was a key consideration in the force’s decision to ban Israeli fans from attending the match, but this crucial detail was held back.”

“The chief constable’s pathetic excuse that he wasn’t asked is just the latest attempt to cover up a farce of his own making,” the MP added. “His position is untenable. If he doesn’t resign, then the home secretary must use her powers to sack him, and even more importantly explain exactly what she knew and when.”

Reform leader Nigel Farage told reporters that Guildford “needs to go today” during a press conference on Wednesday to announce the party’s 2028 mayoral candidate for London.

“It was monstrous that the impression was given that the Jewish-Israeli fans would be violent, when the truth is there were serious threats of violence against them, and huge degrees of misinformation, fed in by local elected politicians in the West Midlands with the assistance of one or two mosques, who do not have good reputations,” Farage said. “I thought the performance yesterday in front of the Commons committee was absolutely abject, so he needs to go first.”

The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews also called for Guildford to lose his job in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.

“It seems that the police reached a decision first, and then searched for evidence to justify it, apparently influenced by the threat posed by local extremists,” they said. “The police excluded (having initially included) any assessment of the significant risk to the Jewish community, and claimed to have consulted the local community in advance of the decision, which they had not.”

“In light of these events,” the Jewish groups continued, “significant harm has been done to the confidence of the Jewish community in the police. Action must be taken to ensure that these failures do not recur and to restore trust. Accountability matters. Considering the chief constable’s role in these events, a change of leadership is essential. If the chief constable does not step aside, responsibility lies with central government to intervene.”

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) also called on Guildford to step down.

“We believe Chief Constable Craig Guildford has failed to uphold the standards of neutrality and responsibility required of his office,” CAM Director of European Affairs Shannon Seban wrote in a letter to UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. “We therefore respectfully call for his resignation. Should he refuse, decisive action by the home secretary is warranted.”

Guildford insisted there “wasn’t any political interference” in the decision to ban Maccabi fans from the soccer match in November. He said he was “very much sorry,” adding, “I do regret the focus that this has placed on our local Jewish community.”

Mike O’Hara, assistant chief constable of West Midlands police, also insisted there was “no conspiracy” behind the ban when speaking to the parliamentary committee on Tuesday. “There was a lot of intelligence that people would actively seek out Maccabi fans and seek violence towards them. There was a bubbling situation locally,” he said.

The police told the committee they were informed by senior Dutch officers that Maccabi fans were responsible for violence during a match against Ajax in Amsterdam in November 2024, but Dutch authorities have denied those claims.

The Embassy of Israel in the United Kingdom said on Wednesday that the police force’s initial portrayal of Israeli soccer fans as violent “was a gross mischaracterization that served the needs of those actively inciting against an Israeli team.”

“This framing diverted attention away from credible intelligence warnings regarding extremist elements preparing to target Israeli and Jewish Maccabi supporters, and instead placed blame on the very community that was facing the threat,” the embassy added in a statement shared on X. “The decision to obscure these assessments, and to allow a misleading narrative to take hold, raises serious questions. These acts by law enforcement institutions undermine real security risks, and even encourages a climate in which hostility towards Israeli and Jewish communities can be normalized under the rule of law. These matters require full accountability.”

The leader of Yemen‘s southern separatists failed to board a flight to Riyadh for crisis talks on Wednesday and his fate was unclear, clouding efforts to contain a military escalation that has caused a major rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A fast-moving crisis in Yemen has ignited a feud between the two most powerful countries in the oil-rich Gulf and fractured a coalition headed by Yemen‘s internationally recognized government that is fighting the Iran-backed Houthis.

After Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s unexplained absence from the Riyadh talks, his Southern Transitional Council said he was overseeing military and security operations in the southern port city of Aden. Reuters could not verify his whereabouts.

Underscoring the tensions, Yemen‘s Saudi-backed presidential council expelled Zubaidi and accused him of treason.

‘THREAT TO BOMB ADEN’

Senior STC official Amr Al Beidh said Aden was still under the group’s control. Beidh said Saudi Arabia told Zubaidi it would bomb Aden if he did not attend the talks.

Zubaidi did not travel to Riyadh for the meeting because he did not want to leave a security vacuum in the port city, said Beidh, speaking from Abu Dhabi in an online briefing. There was no immediate reaction from Saudi Arabia to Beidh’s comments.

Asked about concerns of a split within the separatist group, Beidh said: “We don’t have problems in STC regarding our people. We understand and know and trust our people.”

Another senior STC official said that he and other members of a delegation had arrived in the Saudi capital and talks would go ahead. Hours earlier, the group had said it had lost contact with its delegation.

“I have arrived in Riyadh accompanied by colleagues from Aden, and in a positive atmosphere, we will begin a series of meetings to prepare for a South-South dialogue under the sponsorship of our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Mohammad Al Ghaithi said in a post on X.

It was unclear who would lead the STC in those talks.

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, meanwhile, were advancing towards Aden, Saudi state television reported without elaborating.

The Saudi coalition also said it carried out limited pre-emptive airstrikes in the southern province of al-Dhalea, Zubaidi’s birthplace, after monitoring the movements of armed forces that had left their camps.

Local sources and sources within the STC reported more than 15 strikes in the province.

LATEST FIGHTING PUTS SAUDI, UAE ON OPPOSITE SIDES

The dramatic developments dashed hopes for swift resolution of the recent turmoil in Yemen‘s south and an end to fighting that erupted last month between the STC, backed by the UAE, and Yemen‘s Saudi-backed internationally recognized government.

The UAE has pursued an assertive foreign policy and carved its own sphere of influence across the Middle East and Africa, a strategy in the spotlight after its rare military escalation with Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

The country, a regional business and trade hub, has used alliances with states or proxies and financial support mainly to counter what it views as the destabilizing, existential threat of political Islam.

Zubaidi had been due to travel to Saudi Arabia days after Yemen‘s government said it had asked Riyadh to host a forum on the southern issue.

But on Wednesday, the Saudi-backed presidential council stripped Zubaidi of his membership and referred him to the public prosecutor on charges including high treason, Yemen state news agency SABA said.

The decision, issued by presidential council chairman Rashad al-Alimi, accused Zubaidi of inciting armed rebellion, attacking constitutional authorities and committing abuses against civilians in southern Yemen.

The council has also dismissed Aden Governor Ahmed Lamlas, referred him for investigation, and appointed Abdulrahman al‑Yafie as his replacement, SABA reported.

Security forces announced the imposition of a curfew across all districts of Aden, from 9 pm until 6 am local time, SABA said.

Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson of the Saudi-backed coalition, said there were indications that Zubaidi had moved large forces and that the coalition had asked the vice president of the STC, Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, known as Abu Zara’a, to impose security. Abu Zara’a had met the Saudi defence minister in Riyadh on Jan. 5.

LONG CIVIL WAR

Saudi Arabia and the UAE first intervened in Yemen more than a decade ago after the Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, seized the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014.

The UAE joined the Saudi-backed coalition the following year in support of the internationally recognized government.

The Southern Transitional Council, set up in 2017 with UAE backing, ultimately joined the government coalition.

For years, it has been part of that administration, which controls southern and eastern Yemen and is backed by Gulf states.

But last month STC forces suddenly seized swathes of territory, shifting the delicate balance of power and pitting Saudi Arabia against the UAE.

The UAE pulled its forces out of Yemen last month under pressure from Saudi Arabia, which saw the southern advance on its borders as a threat to its national security. The UAE has called for de-escalation in Yemen since.