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'We've tried everything': Venezuelans hopeful for change after vessel strikes

By: Isabel Flores

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TULSA, Okla — Tensions are on the rise after the United States government carried out several strikes on suspected drug vessels in Venezuela.

The government has also seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast.

National Politics

Trump says the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela

AP via Scripps News Group

The administration said it's to put more pressure on Venezuelan President Maduro.

Maduro has been the President of Venezuela since 2013.

Elections were held in Venezuela last year that led to a huge controversy after the Venezuelan community started saying it was fraudulent.

WATCH: 'We've tried everything': Venezuelans hopeful for change after vessel strikes

'We've tried everything': Venezuelans hopeful for change after vessel strikes

After the recent strikes, Venezuelan community members like Daniella Morrell tell me they’re hopeful.

“People have been tortured," said Morrell. "People have been held hostages and imprisoned because of that, because of their way of thinking against the government. It's not regular. It's not normal for a government to be 25 years in power.”

Morrell told me she had to flee Venezuela, but has made Broken Arrow her home.

Still, it saddens her to see how much Venezuela has changed.

"We were a very wealthy country and now we're not," she said. "Just poor and our economy but our society became a society of racketeering and things that shouldn't be there."

Carolina Marino came to the United States after seeing a shift in the country's leadership.

Like Morrell, she said me the government has led Venezuela into a dark path, with the cartel calling all the shots.

“All of my family is still in Venezuela, my mom, my dad, my siblings," she said. "I communicate with them often and it’s a difficult situation. Everything is an issue, it all has to do with money.”