In Argentina, dormant high school group chats roared to life with news of Nicolás Maduro’s capture. Colombians debated exit plans if they were next on Washington’s list, Ecuadorean schoolteachers paused lessons to discuss the U.S. raid, and a Peruvian beauty queen even weighed in.
Yet this regional frenzy did not translate into a significant wave of organized protests across a continent that has long harbored resentment over the United States’ Cold War-era meddling in Latin America.
While some Latin Americans denounced what they decried as American imperialism in Venezuela, a more supportive response to President Trump’s action prevailed, with several polls showing that a majority of Latin Americans endorsed the intervention.
“I am happy because I saw the fall of a dictator, and I am happy because my Venezuelan friends are happy,” said Carlos Segura, 36, a professor in Buenos Aires.
Seventy-four percent of Peruvians, 63 percent of Chileans, a majority of Colombians, Brazilians, Argentines and even Panamanians, whose country was itself invaded by the United States to remove an authoritarian leader nearly three decades ago, approved of the capture, according to several polls.
In Mexico, the response was more evenly split, reflecting a significant leftist base and widespread opposition to Mr. Trump’s policies. The country’s leftist leader, Claudia Sheinbaum, issued a carefully worded rejection of the attack.
