By Alexandra Panzarelli

Beyond the immediate outrage, celebration, and debate over Donald Trump’s decision to seize Nicolás Maduro and the predictable accusations of imperialism and resource-grabbing, there is a deeper reality that much of the international discourse is missing.

For Venezuelans, this moment is not only about sovereignty or oil. It is about the collapse of our country into a criminalised authoritarian system that has destroyed lives and hollowed out an entire nation. Now that Maduro has been forcefully removed from power, we anxiously await a statement of intention to honour the outcome of the 2024 election and return Venezuela to a democratic and lawful land.

To understand what is at stake, simply read the latest United Nations reports.

Venezuelan political detainees have been subjected to torture, enforced disappearances, and degrading treatment that exceeds anything documented in our modern political history. Journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition activists have been abducted and left to rot in prisons that survivors describe as ‘hell on earth.’

We have known repression before - under colonial rule, under strongmen like Juan Vicente........

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