Hundreds of South Bay protesters took to the streets Saturday to show their disdain toward President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela and the killing of a Minnesota woman by a federal agent earlier this week.
Rallies began Saturday morning in Los Gatos and Mountain View, with more planned later into the day in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, San Jose, Richmond and San Francisco. Many were organized by a coalition of groups including May Day Strong, Indivisible and others.
In a statement, May Day Strong called for unity against U.S. occupation of Venezuela and the removal of “reckless untrained ICE agents from our communities.” They argued overseas wars and increased immigration enforcement enriched billionaires at a human cost, and that tax money should be used for “good jobs, better schools, access to health care and (getting) our basic needs met.”
At Los Gatos, David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” blared to over 100 people as passing cars honked in support of the demonstration.
George Hoffman, a 49-year-old Los Gatos resident, said he’s been protesting regularly at the town’s Tesla dealership since April 2025, in an effort to push back against Elon Musk’s support of Trump.
Hoffman said he started attending protests because he was tired of keeping quiet on the Trump administration’s actions and “feeling like everything was broken.”
“It was killing me,” he said. “I was in a hole of despair and loneliness.”
One week ago, a U.S. strike in Venezuela killed about 80 people and ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who are now in New York City awaiting trial on federal drug charges. Trump and others in his administration have said the U.S. would “run” the country, taking millions of barrels of oil with the blessing of the South American nation’s acting leadership.
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Lynda Turkus, of Mountain View, shakes a cowbell while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
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Lynda Turkus, of Mountain View, shakes a cowbell while protesting in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. About 25 people gathered at the corner of West El Camino Real and Grant Road to protest the recent immigration enforcements and President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Many within the U.S. and internationally criticized the attack as a flagrant violation of international law that ignores Venezuela’s sovereignty. However, Venezuelan expatriates in Florida and elsewhere were supportive of Maduro’s removal after years of reported human rights violations and economic troubles in the country.
In Mountain View, a couple dozen people went to a Chevron gas station to protest. Cindy Ferguson, a 73-year-old Mountain View resident, has been going to several demonstrations, including the No Kings protests in June. She specifically wanted everyone to rally around Chevron due to the president’s actions in Venezuela to gain control of their oil reserves. Ferguson was formerly in the Army between 1973 and 1976. She criticized the similarities she saw between the U.S.’s intervention in Iraq and Iran and the attacks in Venezuela, saying “none of it worked, then or now.”
“They stand to profit really big, so he’s just paying off his billionaire buddies, and all the money and spending is for that,” Ferguson said. “Why aren’t we feeding kids? Why aren’t we giving health care? We could do a lot with that money, too. Let’s care for everyone.”
On Wednesday, a Minnesota woman named Renee Good was fatally shot by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, a killing caught on video that quickly sparked outrage and, from the Trump administration, unsupported claims that Good was a “domestic terrorist.” A day later, two people were wounded in Portland, Oregon, when federal immigration officers shot them in their car outside of a hospital. Both of the shootings inspired vigils and demonstrations against crackdowns authorized by Trump.
Many people that were protesting in the South Bay were enraged over the Good’s death. John Elliott, a 77-year-old Los Gatos resident, said that he had seen the video footage of Good’s shooting and thought it was “striking” that there were people who could justify it. Similarly, 20-year-old Campbell resident Michael Zambon felt that Good’s death was an extrajudicial killing.
“This is really not just about the murder of Renee Nicole Good. It’s also about the rule of law,” Zambon said. “This is a regime of lawlessness. And I believe we need to push back as best we can in order to ensure that the rule of law can endure in the consciousness of the country.”
Lisa Guevara, a 58-year-old resident of Menlo Park, is affiliated with Showing Up for Racial Justice, an organization to help white people organize against racial discrimination. Guevara connected the ICE-involved shootings with the attack on Venezuela as examples of Trump’s government trying to convince Americans that they have a right to enter Venezuela or American cities to strong-arm them.
“I think all of it is connected; It’s all this fascist, patriarchal, white supremacy situation,” Guevara said. “It’s this idea of being able to to determine other people’s lives for them, whether it’s in foreign countries or whether it’s in our own neighborhoods.”
Hoffman said Good’s death was another example of the Trump administration lying to people about what has been happening in the nation.
“We need to stop seeing this as a single issue,” Hoffman said. “It’s all the same fight.”
This is a developing report. Check back for updates.
Nollyanne Delacruz
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