An estimated 200 people gathered on short notice in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood Saturday afternoon to protest the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the apprehension of its leader, Nicolas Maduro.
Protest organizer June Wearden, a resident of Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said she was awake around 2:15 a.m. Saturday when the first reports of the assault came out.
Wearden said she reacted with “anger, outrage and then determination to do what I can do to stop it.”
“It was important for the sentiment against (President Donald) Trump’s actions to be expressed physically in some way,” she said.
Wearden and others addressed the crowd that gathered on the sidewalk in front of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, near Penn and South Highland avenues. They hoisted signs, joined in chants and appreciated the honks of passing motorists.
“We should leave them alone. It’s none of our business,” said Mary Ruth Aull, 85, of Penn Hills. “He (Trump) can’t even run our own country.
“It’s just insane. It’s insanity.”
A protest against the US action in Venezuela is forming in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood. Organizer June Wearden explains why they are here. @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/edFYJdcDFf
— Brian Rittmeyer (@BCRittmeyer) January 3, 2026
Following the military operation that removed Maduro, Trump said the U.S. would run Venezuela and tap its oil reserves to sell to other nations.
“Trump’s claims that our government can go into another country and decide the political and economic fate of it is arrogance,” Wearden said.
Katie Dickey, 26, came to the protest from her home in Homestead despite having had abdominal surgery the day before.
“I don’t think any of us feel safe right now, here. I can’t imagine what’s going on in Venezuela,” she said. “I think there’s still hope this doesn’t have to turn into some gory, horrifying war.
Because of her surgery, Dickey said she wasn’t supposed to be out. But she could not stay home.
“We can’t lose this type of community and right to protest,” she said. “We can’t let people think he (Trump) speaks for our nation.”
Peter Oanes, 76, of Pittsburgh’s Swisshelm Park neighborhood said the gathering reminded him of the anti-war demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s. He attended with his wife, Lorraine Starsky, 74.
They draw connections between Venezuela and Cuba.
“Venezuela, like many others, provides Cuba oil at a discount. The U.S. wants to control the oil, and they have never given up wanting to destroy the Cuban revolution,” he said.
The idea of the U.S. running Venezuela is “unbelievable,” Oanes said. “The arrogance.”
“This is just another outrage,” Starsky said. “It has nothing to do with democracy or drug trafficking. It’s about, ultimately, they don’t like Venezuela because they’re too friendly to Cuba.”
