Venezuelans in Denver, Colorado officials react to Maduro's capture

President Trump says U.S. forces carried out strikes in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, early Saturday morning and captured Venezuelan leader NicolásMaduro and his wife to be taken to a detention center in Brooklyn, New York, facing narcoterrorism charges.

The capture of Maduro prompted mixed reactions from Venezuelans in Colorado, some of whom lauded his removal, and others who said the U.S. government had no business bombing Venezuela or removing Maduro.

Nelson Altuve moved his family from Venezuela to Denver two years ago.

"We come from so much suffering," Altuve said. 

He was in search of a better life.

"The violence, the shortages of supplies and food — all of that made us migrate to other countries, including the USA," he said.

Altuve was able to find a job and get on his feet thanks to the city's asylum-seeker program.

"I feel that the United States is already my home because of the embrace they've given us, both here in Denver and across the whole nation," he added.

He supports the United States' capture of Maduro and shared his opinion about protests against the move at the state capitol.

"They can't imagine — for those of us who lived it or came from Venezuela — what the magnitude of this means," Altuve said. "It's something only those who live it truly know. They shouldn't express their opinion when they don't know what it means for us that Venezuela no longer has Maduro as president."

While Altuve and his family are on a steady path, we spoke with another Venezuelan migrant trying to wash windows for cash on the side of the road.

"I do what I have to do to sustain the life of my family," he said.

The man told CBS News Colorado that he was arrested for protesting Maduro's dictatorship and asked us to conceal his identity out of fear he still has of Maduro's regime.

"I was against the government," he added.

And even while he's struggling to make ends meet in America, he has a message for the world: "Know justice has been done."

Business was nonstop Saturday for Manuel Sucre, the owner of Catira Venezuelan Kitchen and Cocktails, in Greenwood Village, just south of Denver.

"After the news, I didn't really know what to expect, but I also was prepared to be busy today," he said.

Sucre even stepped in to help on a day he is typically off.

"This is a very emotional day for Venezuelans, in whatever way you want to put it, so here at Catiro we are just happy to share the Venezuelan culture," he said.

People gathering over arepas and drinks to celebrate the capture of Maduro was only a glimpse of the reaction.

"I'm excited that we might be able to take our kids to actually go see Venezuela now," one customer at Catira told CBS Colorado.

"Hopefully things will come back and be better," another customer said. "Venezuela has a lot of riches that I would like to see be used for good."

The same sentiment is shared across the U.S. The owner of Denver's Reunion Bakery, Ismael DeSousa, learned about the news while on vacation in Puerto Rico. He said he hopes this means actual freedom for the people in his country.

"In Venezuela, you cannot speak out, there's no freedom of press, there's no freedom of anything, basically, and I think the sentiment is a sentiment of joy, and I think for all Venezuelans, we feel happy about this," DeSousa said.

But not everyone agrees. Yoselin Corrales, an organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, hosted a protest at the Capitol and does not think the U.S. should step in and lead Venezuela while the country waits for another leader.

"We want the U.S. to stay out of intervention with Venezuela, and we want Maduro freed," she said. "We want Venezuela to be able to handle their own affairs, and we want Trump to stay out of it."

Protesters, who marched from the State Capitol throughout downtown Denver, held signs that read, "Stop the U.S. war on Venezuela," "down with U.S. imperialism," and "hands off Venezuela now."

Reactions among elected officials in Colorado were mixed and generally split along party lines.

While almost all of Colorado's congressional delegation characterized Maduro as a "brutal" or "illegitimate" dictator, most of Colorado's Democratic members of Congress and both Democratic senators took issue with the Trump administration's approach to the bombing of Venezuela and capture of Maduro.

U.S. Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, and Brittany Petersen, called the raid and capture of Maduro "unconstitutional," with Petersen saying, "Sending U.S. forces into Venezuela to snatch a foreign leader in the middle of the night is illegal and unconstitutional. Only Congress has the power to declare war – not one unhinged president."

Republican Rep. Gabe Evans, a U.S. Army veteran and former helicopter pilot in the Colorado National Guard who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, lauded the operation and capture of Maduro, saying, "Today, America is safer."

"Every 15 days under the Biden administration, drug overdoses killed more Americans than were lost in the 9/11 attacks," he said. "The arrest of Nicolas Maduro - a narco terrorist responsible for the death of countless Americans, exporting violence via gangs and cartels like Tren de Aragua, corruption, and drug trafficking, - sends a clear message: the United States will not tolerate regimes that poison our people and threaten our national security."

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, a U.S. Army Ranger veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, went on to say, "After decades of failed conflicts, trillions of taxpayer dollars spent, and thousands of lives lost, Americans are struggling to get by and are exhausted by endless wars."

"It's true that Maduro is a brutal dictator. It's also true that not every problem is ours to fix. But now this one is," he continued. "The Trump Administration repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about Venezuela. Over and over, officials testified that this was not about regime change. Congress needs an immediate briefing on the Trump Administration's strategy for the day after. Donald Trump has already done incalculable damage to America's reputation. We have to prevent this from spiraling into another nation-building disaster."