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. Pilotfs of American Airlines Flight 3599 holding an American and Venezuelan flag before departing Miami International Airport for Caracas on April 30, 2026. AFP via Getty Images A ribbon being cut at Miami International Airport for the flight. MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/EPA/Shutterstock “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.…