CARACAS (AP) — There is happiness, and then there is Venezuelan happiness. It tastes sweeter. It feels louder. It runs deeper.
Perhaps because it doesn’t come around that often. Or because it has been stifled by security forces and self-censored to avoid jail. Or because it seems, both collectively and individually, out of reach.
But the nation felt it on Wednesday. Its people cried, shouted, danced, hugged, and drank after Venezuela’s 3-2 win over the United States in the World Baseball Classic final the night before unleashed the emotion.
“We hadn’t expressed that happiness we want to shout,” said hairdresser Deyanira Machado outside a beauty salon in Caracas, the capital.
Unlike so many things here, the scoreboard on televisions across the country was definitive. It wasn’t going to change in the coming minutes or days. It wasn’t subject to interpretation. And young and old, politically active or not, rich and poor, exhaled after holding their breath for years.
“That happiness we had tucked away because someday we would bring it out the right way, like last night, and better than last night,” Machado said.
The victory arrived after two dizzying months for Venezuelans.
They began the year watching their almost-13-year authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, being secretly whisked away at night by the U.S. military and appearing in handcuffs in New York City. They then watched the White House work with loyalists of the ruling party, not with the political opposition, to try to set the country back on course.
While thousands of Venezuelans abroad celebrated Maduro’s downfall, here no one dared publicly to show even the slightest sign of approval. The government’s brutal repression, particularly after the 2024 presidential elections, had taught them to refrain from expressing facts or emotions that could be seen as antagonistic.
Happiness, or dissent, was watched. Those who celebrated what credible evidence showed as a decisive victory for the opposition candidate became government targets after electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner without presenting proof to support his claim. Posts on social media and WhatsApp statuses were enough to land someone in jail.
Fear, anger, and disappointment hardened. Even neighbor chats fell silent, as disagreements with neighbors became too risky.
Venezuelans adapted once again, always with the sense that destiny could take another turn at any moment. Adults focused solely on “getting by,” managing day to day, working one, two, or three jobs just to afford barely any food. Three-digit inflation turned anything beyond necessities into a luxury.
Interim president Delcy Rodríguez declared a “National Day of Jubilation” after the game ended, turning it into a non-working holiday for everyone except essential workers. Though no one needed permission to skip work or school. It was a done deal the moment the game ended and the noise began.
People banged pots and pans all over Caracas while a roar of car horns and motorcycle engines seized some streets. Venezuelans in public squares sang the national anthem with tears streaming down their faces. The city seemed awake well past midnight. Shopping carts in 24-hour stores filled with beer.
Unfiltered joy filled the streets and social media into Wednesday afternoon. The red, yellow, and blue flag hung from windows, waved from motorcycles, and became a scarf.
“This trophy means more than just a baseball game, what people think,” said hospital worker Lanjhonier Lozada as he walked to work on Wednesday, waving a Venezuelan flag and high-fiving strangers just as exuberant.
“This game means history. This is more than we can describe,” he added. “We’re world champions! Who would have imagined?”
Who would have imagined it? The throng of kids playing in local leagues dreaming of major league careers. But perhaps for their parents it was harder to believe that possibility. The adults, after all, have been hardened by a crisis that pushed more than 7.7 million Venezuelans to leave their homeland and that caused world leaders to use the country’s name as a synonym for trouble.
So when the players raised the trophy, they lifted the spirits of Venezuelans around the world.
“This victory wasn’t celebrated only by Venezuela; Venezuelans are everywhere in the world,” said Yenny Reyes, mother of two young baseball fans.
“I’m convinced this is Venezuela’s year,” she said. “This is the start of many good things to come for Venezuela.”
