Direct flights from the US to Venezuela have resumed for the first time in nearly a decade – just months after the US toppled the Latin American nation’s despotic dictator, Nicolas Maduro.

An American Airlines flight took off from Miami Thursday around 10:15 a.m., and was expected to land in Caracas about by the afternoon.

That was the first direct flight from the US to Venezuela in seven years – and the departure was celebrated with arcs of water sprayed across the runway as the American plane passed underneath.

“We are going to be able to see our families. They are going to be a let to come and see us,” one ecstatic traveler told Fox News.

“This is amazing, so all of us, the Venezuelan community in Miami, are so happy,” she added.

The White House also celebrated the move in a post on X after the departure.
“American Airlines is resuming direct flights from the U.S. to Venezuela for the first time in seven years,” the White House wrote. “This wouldn’t be possible without President Trump’s brave leadership in Operation Absolute Resolve.”

Operation Absolute Resolve ended dictator Maduro’s more than 10-year reign of terror over Venezuela in January.

US forces struck military targets near Caracas under the cover of night, with elite US forces being dropped into the country and snatching the despot just moments before he was able to slip into a secure bunker.

He was whisked away to the US were he remains a prisoner.

Maduro held the office of president of Maduro, but ruled the country with an iron first that suppressed oppression and isolated the country from the world.

The US first banned flights to Venezuela in 2019.

Thursdays flight was about two-thirds full, according to CNN, while the pilots waved American and Venezuelan flags from the cockpit windows before taking off.