What goes around, comes around.
In October 2004, the Columbus statue in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, was lynched and torn down by a lawless mob. Hugo Chavez, president of the country, at the time, all but, cheered on the statue’s destruction. The communist leader, who ruled Venezuela from 1998 until he died in 2012, was a self-proclaimed Columbus hater and anti-American. The vandalism became the template for what later happened in a number of cities in the United States in 2020 and beyond.
Now 21 years later, it is Chavez’s statue that has been taken down by a raging mob. This past week, after U.S. forces removed his protege, Nicholas Madura, the depiction of Chavez in bronze, was lynched and toppled, as was Columbus in 2004.
Communist dictatorship comes to a stunning end in a country with strong connections to Italy.
The people of Venezuela celebrate America’s intervention with social media posts displaying street dances and people expressing great relief for the end of tyranny.
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Venezuelans of Italian Heritage Led Opposition
Lilian Tintori, Alberto Franceschi González, and Américo De Grazia represent three distinct but interconnected faces of Venezuela’s long-running democratic opposition.
Lilian Tintori, half Italian, emerged as a global symbol of resistance following the 2014 imprisonment of her husband, opposition leader Leopoldo López. While Chávez had already weakened democratic institutions through media controls and politicized courts, it was under Maduro that repression became more personal and punitive. Tintori transformed from television personality and athlete into a tireless human-rights advocate, traveling internationally to denounce political imprisonment, sham trials, and the criminalization of dissent. The Maduro government responded with harassment, travel bans, and intimidation, turning her activism into a case study of how authoritarian regimes target not only politicians, but their families.
Alberto Franceschi González was a citizen of both Venezuela and Italy. He was detained amid broader crackdowns on activists accused—often without evidence—of conspiracy or subversion. His political stance was rooted less in party ideology than in opposition to the authoritarian system Chávez created and Maduro consolidated.
Américo De Grazia, a veteran labor activist and former National Assembly deputy from Bolívar State, one of 23 states in Venezuela, represents the democratic left who challenged Venezuela’s traditional elites—and later rejected Chávez’s brand of authoritarian populism. Often reported in the media as Italian-Venezuelan, De Grazia became an outspoken critic of corruption, illegal mining, and militarization in southern Venezuela. Under Maduro, his denunciations led to arrest warrants and forced exile in the United States.
Together, Tintori, Franceschi González, and De Grazia illustrate how Venezuela’s opposition is not monolithic, but united by a shared rejection of authoritarian rule.
America’s intervention to forcibly depose the current communist leadership allows Venezuela to enter a new era of freedom and opportunity. The country is posed to follow its namesake—the society that pioneered western capitalism, prosperity and democracy—Venice.
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Little Venice
Long before Venezuela became synonymous with oil wealth and political turbulence, the country’s name evoked the best of Italy.
In 1499, the Italian explorer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci sailed for Spain along the northern coast of South America. When he encountered stilt-built villages of indigenous people on the waters of Lake Maracaibo, the scene reminded him of Venice. Vespucci and his companions called the region “Veneziola” (literally “Little Venice” in Italian), a term that later evolved into Venezuela in Spanish.
While Spain ultimately colonized and shaped early Venezuela, Italian individuals were present even in the colonial and republican eras. Early migrants included explorers, missionaries, military officers, and intellectuals who arrived in smaller numbers — people like Agostino Codazzi, an Italian military man and geographer whose cartographic work helped define Venezuela’s territorial understanding in the 19th century.
Venezuelan independence was crafted by an Italian. Juan Germán Roscio — whose father was of Italian descent — who helped craft Venezuela’s early republican identity in the 19th century.
Little Italy
The most transformative Italian influence in Venezuela came with mass migration in the mid-20th century. Venezuela — flush with oil revenues and in need of labor for urban development — actively welcomed European immigrants in the 1940s and 1950s. Over 300,000 Italians migrated to Venezuela during this period, settling mainly in cities like Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia, and Barquisimeto.
Italian cultural markers quickly rose in prominence. Venezuela became one of the world’s top consumers of pasta, second only to Italy itself — a striking example of how Italian culinary tradition took root locally.
Italian clubs, newspapers, social organizations, and even football teams — most famously Deportivo Italia in the 1960s and ’70s — further cemented a vibrant Italian-Venezuelan presence.
Today, millions of Venezuelans claim some degree of Italian ancestry, with estimates suggesting up to 16 % of the population has Italian roots.
When Chavez became dictator, many Italian descendants — especially those with dual citizenship — migrated to Italy. Italian authorities report increased demand for citizenship applications among Venezuelans seeking stability and safety for their families.
Venezuelans living Italy were able to provide a worldwide voice for family members, friends, and neighbors who were persecuted by Chavez and Madura. They could provide information from Italy to the people of Venezuela in an uncensored format.
Now that the communist dictatorship has been toppled, Italian Venezuelans—all Venezuelans—can forge ahead in a new era of freedom.
Editor's Note: Pictured is Hugo Chavez, his statue being torn down, and the Columbus statue torn down in 2004. Opposition to the communist dictatorships consisted of some key members who were of Italian origins such as Lilian Tintori, Alberto Franceschi González, and Américo De Grazia.
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