Paula Joukanen’s boyfriend is from Venezuela. Nacho woke up on Saturday morning to happy news.
Paula Joukanen’s Nacho boyfriend is from Venezuela. Picture from the 2023 Miss Finland competition. Jussi Eskola
Miss Finland 2023 Paula Joukanen is confused by the events in Venezuela. On Saturday, January 3, the President of the United States Donald Trump announced that the United States had invaded Venezuela and kidnapped the country’s presidential couple. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the incident was a “new morning” for Venezuela and that the President Nicolás Maduro “finally faces trial for his crimes”.
Paula Joukanen’s boyfriend Nacho is from Venezuela, so Saturday’s attack aroused a lot of emotions in Joukas. Nacho and his family fled Caracas, Venezuela more than ten years ago. They currently live in Miami, Florida.
Iltalehti caught up with Joukanen, who is in Finland, on Saturday. Joukanen had caught her boyfriend on the phone a moment earlier. Nacho had just woken up to a new day in Miami. There is a seven-hour time difference between Finland and Florida.
– Nacho said that he woke up in the middle of the night when his parents were screaming with joy at home. Some of their relatives called them in the middle of the night and told them about the situation, Joukanen tells Iltalehte.
Nacho’s relatives still live in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, where the attack took place.
– Nacho’s grandma and aunt are in Caracas. They had woken up in the night to the sounds of airplanes. They went outside to look and there were sirens going off. People were screaming, crying outside, Joukanen continues.
Nacho and his relatives have especially been following the Western news media’s coverage of the situation, as they do not trust the Venezuelan media at the moment.
– For the time being, the family does not dare to post anything happy on social media, because if there are still any remnants of Maduro’s supporters in power and you are publicly against Maduro, you will go to prison. Most Venezuelans still don’t dare to celebrate in public, Joukanen sums up.
All in all, Nacho and his family are happy with the situation. They had to flee Venezuela because of Maduro’s political ideas, so they thought that Maduro’s kidnapping was the right thing to do.
– Nacho said that this is the best day ever. Their family expected this to happen in late fall, and when it didn’t, they lost hope. This was the best possible start to 2026, Joukanen concludes.
Iltalehti follows the situation in Venezuela moment by moment. You can read the latest information about this story.