At a former Coca-Cola bottling plant in downtown Indianapolis, Venezuelans Juan Paredes Angulo and his mother, Andreina, five years ago delivered on a decades-long dream to open a food stall, sharing regional Venezuelan food with a part of America better used to Tex-Mex and Chinese takeout for international cuisine.
Hearing of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s capture by US forces in an overnight military raid earlier this month came as a complete shock.
“At first we didn’t believe it. We thought it might be AI. But then everybody we know started reaching out about the news. It’s only in our dreams that this would be true,” Juan says. “I feel joy, and ignorance, because I don’t know exactly what could be happening there nor do I know is it absolutely positive.”
He, his mother and sister came to Indiana in 2015 as political asylees.
“I was 16 [when he left Venezuela] and for me to go to college [there] was a waste of time – many of the future opportunities were gone.
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