U.S. Special Forces Operations shook the Venezuelan capital of Caracas during the early morning hours of Jan. 3, 2026. According to Al-Jazeera, over 80 people were killed during the operation, 32 of the deceased being soldiers from Cuba. The main target of the raid was Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. According to Reuters, U.S. military operations teams had practiced on a replica of Maduro’s safe house for months prior to the Jan. 3 operation. Maduro and his wife have both been indicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy as well as Cocaine Importation Conspiracy. Maduro and his wife are being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York as they await trial for their alleged involvement.

Opinions on the raid and strikes as well as the reasons it has been conducted have differed in national polling. In the direct aftermath of Jan. 3. The Washington Post surveyed 1,000 Americans on whether they “approve” or “disapprove” military forces being sent into Venezuela, with 40 percent of respondents saying they approve, and 42 percent saying they disapprove. We wanted to ask 100 students at HHS to see how the opinions of students compare to national polling. This is what they said.

Differing greatly from national polling, 79 of the 108 student polled said they do not support U.S. intervention in Venezuela with 21 respondents saying they do support U.S. intervention. Eight respondents had no opinion on the matter.

Senior Alexander Banks VII said he does not support the intervention in Venezuela, having concerns with the deaths of Venezuelan troops.

“I disagree with what Trump is doing because he is just trying to get more oil and money. I also feel bad for the soldiers who lost their lives during this,” Banks VII said.

Sophomore James Jimenez supports the intervention in Venezuela as he feels like Maduro not being in power anymore will bring more freedom to Venezuela.

“I think it was pretty good because Maduro was a bad leader and a dictator, so I feel like this finally frees the Venezuelan people and this will bring more opportunities for the people,” Jimenez said.

Freshman Trevor Pendleton said he doesn’t hold a specific opinion on the situation.

“I don’t have any thoughts on the situation, I haven’t really kept up with what is going on,” Pendleton said.

Junior, Saul Silva is happy for the Venezuelan people, but does not think the operation should have went the way it went, voicing concerns over historical events involving the United States and other countries.

“I am happy for the Venezuelan people, but I am worried because the United States is not very good with running other countries like we’ve seen with Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s,” Silva said.

Sophomore, Edis Garcia thinks the U.S. handled the operation correctly but he also thinks the U.S. may have ulterior motives for Venezuela.

“I think the U.S. is just trying to take oil to sell it, and I think that they are trying to make it seem like they are doing something good for the country, but they are really just doing something dark behind the scenes,” Garcia said.

Twenty more respondents voiced discontent for intervention in more countries, compared with data from the previous question on whether they support intervention within Venezuela. This is similar to national data, as a January poll from Pew Research Center shows that only 22 percent of Americans would support the U.S. taking over Greenland.

Freshman Amy Martinez-Ochoa would not support intervention in other countries, as well as Venezuela, citing personal experiences with increased gang violence in El Salvador following U.S. involvement in the country.

“I would not support the U.S. going into other countries because of what happened in my country, El Salvador, right after U.S. involvement in the 80’s there was an increase in gang activity and violence with people being terrorized for years. My aunt was killed due to gang violence in El Salvador, so I would not support the U.S. going into other countries like that,” Martinez-Ochoa said.