'Give him a bloody nose': Venezuelans in Florida push Trump to topple Maduro

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

Here & Now’s Scott Tong recently traveled to Doral, Florida, the U.S. city with the highest population of Venezuelans, to talk with people who support President Trump's pressure campaign against Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro.

And, even as they speak in support of the president's recent moves against Maduro, there is concern in the community after Trump ended Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants. Tong talks with residents about their loss of permission to live and work in the U.S. or buy health insurance, and the conflict between Venezuelans in Doral and Republican Mayor of Doral Christi Fraga over her unwavering support for Trump.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com.
0:17.0	WBWR Podcasts, Boston.
0:26.0	Along comes this narrative that says,
0:30.0	hey, Nicolas Maduro is sending the train to the United States.
0:35.1	It fits really well with Marco Rubio's long-term desire for regime change.
0:40.7	President Trump is flirting with war in Venezuela.
0:45.4	And he's got a constituency in Florida who say it's worth the risk. This is here and now anytime from NPR and WBOR.
0:59.7	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:04.1	Today on the show, meet the Americans cheering on regime change in Venezuela.
1:10.4	President Trump has been ramping up his campaign against Nicolas Maduro,
1:14.5	ordering air strikes on boats in the Caribbean that have killed at least 83 people,
1:19.2	amassing troops in Puerto Rico, even declaring Maduro the leader of a terrorist organization.
1:26.5	A CBS News UGov poll found 70% of Americans across party lines oppose military action in Venezuela.
1:35.2	But there is one group calling loudly for it, one that seems to have the ear of the White House.
1:41.7	Venezuelan Americans who fled the country and settled in South Florida.
1:46.6	My colleague Scott Tong went there recently, and we're going to hear from many of the people
1:51.3	he talked to on today's show.
1:54.6	But Scott, why did you want to go to Doral, Florida, of all places right now?
1:59.6	You know, we had someone on our show before I went, and she was part of this Venezuelan
2:05.2	exile opposition community, the people who are trying to push out Nicholas Maduro, right,
2:11.2	the authoritarian, the socialist president in Venezuela.
	...

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