American household of seven stranded after Venezuela raids say they’re trapped in a residing hell… whereas oblivious influencers BOAST about getting caught

A family of seven who decided to spend the holiday break in Puerto Rico have found themselves unable to return to the mainland United States following America’s raids in Venezuela. 

Dinan Messiqua, a mother-of-three, told the Daily Mail how she traveled to the US territory with her children, her parents and her sister’s family for the week between Christmas and school starting up again.

They arrived on the island last Sunday, and had originally planned to return home to Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday.

But just hours before their scheduled departure, Messiqua said her sister received a message from JetBlue that their flight was canceled ‘because of what happened with Venezuela, and they closed down the airport.’

‘My sister was on the phone for like three hours waiting to talk to someone at JetBlue and she finally got on the phone, and they rebooked us for this coming Saturday – so like a week later,’ Messiqua said.

The family is now scrambling to find an earlier flight.

‘It totally affects everybody,’ the mom-of-three said. ‘I work in schools in Boston, I train teachers, so I cant be there to work with my teachers.

‘We have kids with us who are going to be missing a week of school. We have other people who need to be at work,’ she added. 

‘I mean, fortunately there’s the Internet and Zoom and all that, but it’s really hard.’ 

The family is now one of hundreds who find themselves without a way back to the United States after the Federal Aviation Administration announced Saturday that it was restricting travel in Caribbean airspace, as the Trump administration confirmed it had taken Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife custody.

The restrictions expired at midnight on Sunday, and flights have now resumed to the Caribbean islands, and major airlines like JetBlue, United, Delta and American are now working to add additional flights to accommodate the affected customers.

But getting a seat on an outgoing flight is proving to be difficult, with Messiqua telling the Daily Mail on Sunday there were no options for flights back to Boston from Monday through Wednesday.

‘My nephew just… found something on an airline I never even heard of and it does not have a good reputation, and he booked a flight at like two in the morning, but he has to go through somewhere like an hour from Philly and then he has to go to Philly to get back to Boston,’ she said.

‘You have to like take a bus to the next city,’ Messiqua explained. ‘It’s like insane.’

Making matters even harder, Messiqua said, the family is all trying to fly together.

Fortunately, she said, they were able to extend their hotel room for two more nights, at which point the hotel would ask them to change rooms.

‘But after Friday, we’ve got to find something else,’ she said, though she added that she is ‘not concerned.’

‘There was a moment of panic,’ she admitted, ‘and then you’re like ‘We got to make the best of this situation.”

‘I mean, we’re in a beautiful place. It could be way worse. So we’re in a hotel, we’re not sleeping at the airport. I mean, there’s a lot of silver linings.

‘But I think the hardest part is the uncertainty, like, if you know, ‘OK this is when you’re leaving,’ [you can] make the best of your time here, versus everyday checking ‘Are we going to leave tomorrow? Are we going to leave the next day?’ You could never sort of anchor yourself.

‘It’s very disconcerting,’ Messiqua said.

Others, though, are flaunting their extended vacations on social media, with travel and lifestyle coordinator Declan Chapin sharing scenes from her trips to Saint Barthelemy writing: ‘When you’re not ready to leave the Caribbean and now Trump won’t let you.’

‘Checked the news this morning and learned we might be staying longer than planned…’ she captioned the post on Saturday. ‘Travel curveballs always come up, but this is my first time experiencing closed airspace. 

‘Grateful to be here and TBD for how long,’ Chapin added.

Model Montana Maui shared a similar post to her 94,000 followers on Instagram, writing: ‘When Trump won’t let you leave St. Bart’s.’ 

It now remains unclear how long their trips may last, as major US airlines try to ramp up their flights from the Caribbean to help meet the demand. 

In a statement to the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for JetBlue said it has ‘resumed normal operations.’

‘We understand this is a busy travel weekend for many customers, and we’re doing everything possible to support those affected by the disruption,’ the spokesperson said.

‘We will continue working to rebook customers on available flights and, where possible, by adding extra flights. We have already added multiple additional flights from San Juan and will continue to add capacity where possible.’

Delta Air Lines also said it expected to fly its normal Caribbean schedule on Sunday, but noted it may experience schedule adjustments as its resources are ‘repositioned.’

Meanwhile, American Airlines said in a statement that it was preparing for the Eastern Caribbean airspace to reopen Sunday, and had added more than 3,700 extra seats to and from the region on top of resuming scheduled service.

It said it was operating extra flights and deploying larger aircraft, including widebodies, to ‘add as much lift as possible’ to help customers affected by the FAA-mandated closure.

Still, it will likely take airlines several days to restore normal operations, according to analyst Robert Mann.

‘They have a day’s worth of passengers basically’ already stranded in the Caribbean, he said. 

By Sunday night, 23 percent of outgoing flights and 22 percent of incoming flights to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport  in San Juan, Puerto Rico – the Caribbean’s busiest hub – were delayed, according to FlightAware.

Four percent of outgoing flights were also canceled.  

In Venezuela, though, commercial air traffic seemed to stop after Saturday’s raid, according to records from FlightRadar24. 

It was supported by every branch of the US military and involved more than 150 aircraft, according to Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine, who detailed the timeline alongside Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.

At least seven blasts were heard as low-flying aircraft targeted and destroyed military infrastructure, including air defense systems, ‘to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area,’ Caine said. 

US forces then arrived at Maduro’s compound at 1.01am Eastern Standard Time and took Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, into custody soon after. 

One helicopter was hit during the raid but remained flyable and made it back home safely.

At 3.29am EST, forces had successfully exfiltrated, and Maduro and his wife were placed aboard the USS Iwo Jima for transport to New York, where the Venezuelan President will be tried on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons charges.

The Supreme Court of Venezuela later confirmed hardline socialist Vice President Rodriguez, 56, would take over as head of the country.

But the Venezuelan Military is now calling for Maduro’s release.

Speaking on television surrounded by military officers, Defense Minister Padrino Lopez affirmed that ‘Nicolas Maduro is the genuine, authentic constitutional leader of all Venezuelans’.

He said the leadership of the Bolivarian Forces of Liberation was demanding the president’s ‘immediate release’ and condemned the ‘colonialist ambition’ of the US.

‘We urge the world to turn their eyes to what is happening against Venezuela, against its sovereignty,’ Lopez said.

‘The world needs to be on guard because if it was Venezuela yesterday, it could be anywhere tomorrow.’