Exiled Venezuelans in Spain say conditions ‘not yet in place’ to return home

For years, many of Venezuela’s exiles in Spain — leading opposition figures and citizens — have hoped for a day when ousted president Nicolás Maduro would no longer be in power. 

It’s been an enduring hope for Xiomara Sierra since Venezuela’s July 2024 elections, when she became a target of threats while co-ordinating an opposing political party’s campaign. Sierra says she was accused of terrorism on national television by the country’s justice minister.

“He banged his fists on a table and he threatened me with Operación Tun Tun,” she said, referencing mass arrests of protesters and opponents by Venezuelan security forces. “I didn’t say goodbye to my family. Nobody knew I was leaving.”

Sierra, now a spokesperson in Spain for opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner María Corina Machado, says she worries about Venezuela’s vice-president, who has been sworn in as interim leader. “Delcy Rodríguez is the instrument of repression for the Venezuelan state,” Sierra said. “We cannot trust her.” 

Faced with the Maduro regime’s brutal repression, Venezuelans have sought refuge in Spain in recent years. Speaking the same language, sharing cultural similarities and benefiting from open migration policies, about 400,000 Venezuelans reside in Spain, according to the country’s statistics office.

“It’s a mixed feeling. This is not what we were expecting,” said Sarahy Chirinos, who runs a Venezuelan bakery at Madrid’s Maravillas market. “Venezuelans were expecting that Maduro would be taken out of office and that a democratic transition would start with María Corina Machado. Now we have to wait and continue to pray to God.”

Sierra is one of the few opposition members exiled in Spain speaking publicly since the American operation that captured Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3. Many prefer to stay out of the spotlight as they figure out whether they will be able to return to public life in Venezuela.

Human rights groups say Venezuela holds 800 to 900 political prisoners, most of them swept up under Maduro’s leadership. Many of them are believed to be held in El Helicoide, a detention centre in Caracas documented for years as a site of abuse and torture against prisoners.

On Friday, Venezuela announced the release of some political prisoners. U.S. President Donald Trump responded with a social media post saying he had called off a second wave of military strikes in the country.

But Sierra said the release doesn’t go far enough. “For a real change, all political prisoners must be released, and all the torture centres should be closed. Then the popular vote of the Venezuelan population in 2024 should be respected.”