ALLENTOWN, PA — After the capture of authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelans in the Lehigh Valley celebrated at a La Libertad de Venezuela event held at La Bicicleta Arepa Bar in Allentown. The gathering was hosted by manager and owner of the restaurant, Claudia Canelon. Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, who is of Cuban descent, also joined the crowd, as well as City Council president Cynthia Mota.
“As Allentonians are thrilled about Maduro’s removal, I am right there with them,” Tuerk said.
Maduro’s widely disputed presidency, as well as allegations of “narco-terrorism” in his government, meant that many Venezuelans both at home and abroad hoped for and anticipated political change. However, some have said they did not expect a United States strike taking Maduro along with his wife, Cilia Flores, from their Caracas compound in the dead of night.
“The first reaction was shock,” Canelon said, “but right now it’s hope, a big hope for Venezuelan people, especially for the diaspora people.”
Canelon is originally from Colombia, and emigrated from Venezuela with her husband Humberto, a Venezuelan native, in 1992. She said that she still maintains continued investment in the country’s future, for the sake of its people.
“I hope Venezuela will be better now because the people are living in poor condition,” she said. “Only just a little groups – that is, the government – live good, but other people are living bad, and that is not right.”
Canelon said she understands that President Donald Trump and the U.S. government might harbor their own interests in the country. For now, she and others momentarily set aside claims of unconstitutional intervention from the U.S. government, as well as fears that the U.S. might plan to occupy and utilize the country for its oil. Trump recently announced that Venezuela will supply 30-50 million barrels of market-value oil to the states.
“There’s many bad things happening in Venezuela, and maybe the people don’t understand that,” she said. “It’s not the way that everybody expected and gave the okay, but sometimes it’s necessary.”
Tuerk, as well as Canelon, said they hope that new leadership will come from native soil.
“It really needs to be led by the Venezuelan people,” Tuerk said.
Canelon and some other Venezuelans think that leader should be Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 for her “efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela.” Machado was the unity candidate in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election before her disqualification on fiscal violations. Due to fear for her life under Maduro’s rule, she went into hiding shortly after.
Venezuelans realize that the path forward has only just begun, and that it will most likely take measured cooperation between Venezuela and the United States. Tibisay Villalobos, a pediatric infectious disease specialist who has lived in the Lehigh Valley for over 14 years since immigrating from Venezuela 30 years ago, said that nothing has changed yet.
“There [are] still questions to be answered,” Villalobos said. “The only thing that changed is that Maduro is not there anymore, but Maduro was just the figure that represented the regimen.”
Since 2014, the year after Nicolas Maduro initially assumed office, over 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country.
“The diaspora is one of the largest in the world,” Villalabos said. “More than 7 million Venezuelans left the country because of the regimen, because of Maduro.”
Allentown is now home for over 3,000 Venezuelan residents, with La Bicileta Arepa Bar serving as one of the only restaurants that make Venezuelan food in the Lehigh Valley. Claudia and Humberto opened the restaurant six years ago to create a space for Venezuelans abroad to enjoy traditional food.
“My daughter saw that there’s a lot of Venezuelan people living in the area now,” Canelon said. “They don’t have traditional food here, [so] we can open a restaurant.”
Canelon named the bar after the Spanish word for bicycle to make it memorable, welcoming and appealing for Americans. She wanted Lehigh Valley residents of all nationalities to learn about the country’s diverse and rich culture. The restaurant opened its second location in 2022 due to increasing popularity.
Canelon’s hope now is that people know of the legacy and promise of Venezuela.
“I left from Venezuela when [it] was great,” she said. “In the end of the 80’s and the first years of the 90’s, Venezuela was wonderful.”
Starting in the mid 20th century, Venezuela received an influx of European and Colombian immigration. The country’s growing job market and plentiful oil supply made it an ideal destination.
“It’s a very nice country, the people are very very nice, and the country is beautiful,” Canelon said. “But now, I am not sure, we’re talking about more people going out of this country, so you can imagine how bad it is.”
She said she’s thankful for the community’s support at their La Libertad de Venezuela event.
“It was a very nice day,” she said. “It made me very happy and brought me a lot of satisfaction that the people found the space to celebrate.”
While the world is still in shock, Canelon, Villalobos and thousands of other Venezuelans across the world are hopeful for big change, that the sun might shine again on the Venezuela that they remember.
“Having this happen has created hope for all Venezuelans,” Villalobos said, “that this may be the beginning for the change in the country, and the beginning of our recovery.”