The Coffey family had big plans for the week after Christmas. They travelled from their home in Ashmore, Illinois to Puerto Rico for a week-long cruise. They were supposed to fly home in the morning of January 3rd. But after they arrived at the airport, they started running into problems. The Coffeys spent the morning with other travelers, trying to figure out what was happening. Soon they got the news that the US had bombed Venezuela and entered the country.
Politicians and communities in Illinois are reacting after the United States unexpectedly removed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife from the country in a military strike on Saturday.
The legal authority for the attack was not immediately clear. The stunning American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.