When Nicolás Maduro was arrested in the United States, many outside Venezuela saw a dramatic turning point. For Sammy Eppel, a journalist and research fellow at ISGAP, the moment carried far less certainty.
“I feel like we’ve seen this movie before,” Eppel said in a studio interview with ynet Global, reflecting on more than a decade in exile after fleeing Venezuela under threat from the regime.
(Video: Yaron Brenner)
Eppel, who lived in Venezuela for years and was active both as a journalist and a Jewish communal leader, left the country roughly ten years ago after his newspaper was taken over and he was removed from its editorial board.
“I was a critical journalist,” he said. “They didn’t appreciate that.” What followed, he recalled, were threats, intimidation and the arrest of fellow journalists.“I saw colleagues being jailed,” he said. “I decided I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in a cage in Venezuela.”
Maduro’s arrest, Eppel argued, does not automatically signal meaningful political change. The problem, he said, is structural. “Maduro is just the face of a much bigger mafia,” Eppel said, describing a system rooted in corruption, organized crime and international criminal networks.
He pointed to drug trafficking, money laundering and what he described as long-standing ties between the Venezuelan regime and terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, which he said has operated in the country openly for nearly two decades. “This isn’t just about one dictator,” he said. “It’s about a criminal structure that controls the country.”
Why elections alone are not enough
According to Eppel, Venezuela’s last election—held in July—produced a clear result: Maduro lost by a wide margin. “He is no longer the president,” Eppel said. “He is an illegitimate dictator.” Yet legitimacy on paper, he warned, does not translate into power on the ground.
“The real change will only happen if the army recognizes the legitimate elected leadership,” he said, naming opposition figures Edmundo González and María Corina Machado. Without that shift, he added, removing Maduro alone would simply preserve the same ruling elites behind the scenes. “The same people will stay in power,” he said. “And nothing will really change.”
A Jewish community under pressure
Eppel also described the slow dismantling of Venezuela’s once-thriving Jewish community—a process driven by economic collapse, political repression and an openly anti-Israel government stance. “The government’s anti-Israel policy hasn’t changed in over 25 years,” he said.
As Venezuela unraveled, Jews faced the same dangers as other citizens: political persecution, loss of rights and the threat of imprisonment. In some cases, he noted, those fears became reality. “One of our kids was jailed,” Eppel said. “And he died in prison.” An estimated nine million Venezuelans have fled the country over the past decade. The Jewish community, he said, was no exception.
“We weren’t different from the rest of Venezuelans,” Eppel said. “It wasn’t a safe place to raise children or build a future.”
For many Venezuelan Jews, exile carried a painful historical echo. “Our parents and grandparents were refugees from Europe,” Eppel said. “And now we are refugees ourselves.”
Before the collapse, he recalled, the Jewish community in Venezuela was integrated, prosperous and unified, with strong institutions and little division between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. “We had schools, we had opportunities, we had a real community,” he said. “And we loved the country.” Many, he added, still hope to return one day.
Life under the radar
Eppel remains in close contact with family and friends who stayed behind. Their message, he said, is one of fear and caution. “They’re keeping a very low profile,” he said. Community leaders, he explained, have urged Jews to avoid demonstrations, stay away from crowds and, when possible, remain indoors. “We’re in almost a state of war,” Eppel said.
He described soldiers deployed across cities, asserting control and projecting force. “They’re showing they are the power,” he said. “And in a way, they really are.” The alternative, he warned, could be widespread chaos—an outcome that might invite foreign intervention. “That’s where the fear of an American or external invasion comes in,” Eppel said. “And we hope it doesn’t happen, because that would mean open war.”
For Eppel, Venezuela’s story is not yet one of resolution, but of suspended danger. “There is already so much suffering,” he said.
“More war would only mean more distress.” His assessment is sober, shaped by exile and experience: authoritarian systems do not collapse simply because a leader falls. “The power structure is still there,” he said. “And until that changes, Venezuela remains trapped.”