The people in the Austin area joined
with many thousands of others across
the country in protesting after an
ICE officer fatally shot a woman
this week in Minneapolis.
Demonstrators gathered outside a
Department of Homeland Security
building in Pflugerville.
We'll bring you some of those
voices.
And after a U.S.
Military operation in Caracas
last weekend, Venezuelans in Austin
are hoping for bigger changes before
they are able to go back home.
We're going to hear from them and
from a Venezuelan Texan author
based here in Their stories
and their voices coming up next.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus, how did Austin come
to be known as the live music
capital of the world?
Come and dig into the ATXplain
vault with us.
That's coming up next, right here
on Austin Signal.
Howdy, you are tuned in.
This is Austin Signal.
It's January 9th.
Thank you for making us part of
your Friday.
Out of Austin, ice,
out of Austin!
Anti-ICE protests popped up
in Austin and Pflugerville yesterday
after a woman in Minneapolis was
shot and killed by an Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officer
earlier this week.
She was identified as 37-year-old
Renee Good.
In Austin, protesters gathered on
the corners of 45th and Lamar.
Sarah Bradley was one of those
protesters.
And I don't want to live in a place
where I'm scared to spook my mind.
I want to be as free as possible.
And I also want us to take care of
each other.
Live in a society where we take care
each other,
that's why I'm here.
The protest in Pflugerville was held
in front of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security
building there.
After Goode's killing, President
Donald Trump called her a quote,
professional agitator, end quote.
Protesters said they reject those
claims.
Protests are expected to continue
later today at the Capitol and
tomorrow morning at City Hall.
You can find more coverage on the
protest over at KUT.org.
Again, this is Austin Signal.
I'm your host Jerry Kijano.
Here in town, there have also been
protests and vigils in reaction to
the Trump administration's actions
in Venezuela.
And as the ousted Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro is facing
trial in the United States,
some Venezuelans here don't feel as
hopeful about returning home.
QUT's Greta Díaz González Vázquez
talked to Venezuelas in Austin.
Betty Nava and her family fled
Venezuela in 2018.
She and her husband were very
outspoken against Nicolás Maduro's
government and felt their lives
would be in danger if they stayed.
Last Saturday, when she heard about
the U.S. Military action to arrest
Maduro, she was overwhelmed
and decided to go back to bed.
She couldn't stand the possibility
of being disillusioned by her
country once more.
Because I thought that Maduro would
go back to the Maduro area.
She thought Maduro would return to
power in a matter of hours.
Almost a week later, she's still not
ready to celebrate, especially
since Maduro's vice president,
Delci Rodriguez, is now interim
president.
I still don't fully celebrate
because those people are there.
Person who is much
more intelligent than Maduro.
Betty says she fears her more than
Madro.
When Betty, her husband, and their
two sons first fled, they went to
Peru.
In 2021, they came to the U.S.
On a tourist visa.
That same year, they applied for
asylum, and while waiting, they got
Temporary Protected status,
or TPS.
Solamente solicitamos el TPS
como protección.
They wanted to feel protected, she
says, but the Trump administration
ended that program last year.
Now, after Maduro's detention...
News for those who
are here from Venezuela on
temporary protective status is that
they can now go home.
With hope for their country.
That's Trisha McLaughlin from the
Department of Homeland Security.
After Maduro's attention, officials
from the Trump administration have
repeatedly said that Venezuela
is now a safe country for the
roughly 600,000 Venezuelans
who were under TPS.
Venezuelan's like Betty.
But other people say with Maduro
cabinet still in power, it's
not that simple.
Liani, a Venezuelian lawyer who also
lives in Austin, says it will take
some time for things to get better.
KUT is using only her first
name because she still has family in
Venezuela and fears for their
safety.
She says once the transition moves
forward and things become clearer,
it will take a while for those
abroad to feel safe, to know
they won't be persecuted when they
return.
Liani worked as a judge in
Venezuela.
She says all institutions there
have become corrupt over the last
two decades.
Cuando te digo que la han destruido
todo es porque...
We have to renew all the powers of
the state.
She says federal, state and local
reforms need to take place before
Venezuelans can go back.
When you see people inside Venezuela
celebrating and the
free political prisoners,
it's because freedom has arrived in
Venezuela. Freedom will come for
Venezuela, she says, when people
inside the country can celebrate and
all political prisoners are freed.
On Thursday, Venezuela's government
released some political prisoners
as a gesture to, quote,
consolidate peace.
There have been protests inside
Venezuela against Maduro's
detention, but people in the country
who oppose the government have not
been able to celebrate in public.
The country is divided.
Beti Nava hears about both sides.
Some of her siblings in Venezuela
agree with Maduro government,
while others do not.
To those who oppose Maduro, she asks
them to delete all their tags
criticizing the government.
But to those who support him,
she's always asking
because they continue to support a
process and a group of people
that destroyed our future and
separated us.
Why support those people who
destroyed their futures and split
their family apart?
That's what I asked them, that I
wanted an answer.
She hasn't gotten an answer yet,
but she still loves her family and
even gives them money when she can.
Both Liani and Betty know that if
they could go back to Venezuela,
it wouldn't be the same country they
left years ago.
A lot of their friends and family
are scattered around the world.
Institutions have changed.
With so many years living abroad,
they have also changed.
Liani says if things get better, she
wants to go back and help her
country by being a professor.
I think there's a lot to do
and a lot of things to offer.
She says there's lots to do to
reconstruct Venezuela and she
doesn't want future generations to
forget their history.
It benefits a very rapid
reconstruction of our country.
Beti says that even though she's
waiting for her asylum case to be
resolved, what she really wants
is to go back to Venezuela and
to be in the land where her kids
were born.
Porque nadie sale de donde feliz.
Betty says because nobody leaves the
place where they're happy.
And I was very happy in Venezuela.
And she was very happy in
Venezuela.
I'm Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vazquez
in Austin.
Austin author Alejandro Puyana
is a Venezuelan-American and
wrote the 2025 novel Freedom
is a Feast About Life in
Venezuela.
He reached out to Texas Standard as
part of their Talk of Texas project
with his own experience and thoughts
on what's been going on.
He spoke with the Standard's David
Brown.
Let's begin with your reaction when
you first heard the news over the
weekend. I mean, on one level,
it was a huge surprise.
On another level, President Trump
had been warning about something
like this for weeks.
What went through your mind in that
moment when you heard the first
news?
Yeah, well, I got a
phone call from my mother at 2
a.m. In the morning, which is always
a horrible thing to get because
you don't know what's happened.
My mom told me that they had just
bombed Caracas and it was first
fear and concern for
loved ones and friends and family
that I have living there.
And then very soon after, just
a deep dive into news.
So immediately on WhatsApp with
my best friends and with my family
members.
Looking into coverage and seeing
what I could find.
And yeah, very afraid for what
could happen on one side.
And also a
small part of me,
I think, had hope of
what this could mean for the
end of a regime that's been horrible
for the nation and for
my people.
So, wow, what a mix.
Fear and hope.
I know you've written fiction about
Venezuela, but you've also lived
this history personally.
How did your experience growing up
there shape the way that
you have been processing?
Yeah, it's impossible to divorce
those two things.
You know, when I grew up in
Venezuela, like you said, when
I first moved to the US,
my dad was running an opposition
newspaper in Venezuela called
Talcual, which
is still running now.
And he had a lot of run-ins with
the government, with the regime.
He was prohibited from leaving the
country. There was always a threat
of, you know, of my dad
possibly going.
To prison as a political
prisoner.
So those fears were always
up in the air for us, for
my family, and for me leaving
abroad. Me and my sister lived
outside of Venezuela.
It was always a
looking back at home and
wondering what was going to happen.
So I've lived very personally
the effects of this regime.
In your talk of Texas message, you
touched on the difference between
wanting Maduro gone
and of course your questions
about how that happened, how that
went down.
Can you say more about that tension,
you know, relief on one hand,
concern on the other?
Yeah, I think I think for many
Venezuelans, we are split
inside, you know, on one side, we
have joy and there's
a cost for celebration for the
regime or for at least Maduro and
Celia Flores to have been taken out
of the country. I mean, they've
they've done so much harm to so
many people.
But on the other hand,
most Venezuelan understand that
This is not for free,
you know, Trump has his own agenda,
he is in his own way.
Tyrant in my point of view
and is interested only in
what Venezuela can give him.
You know, minerals, oil,
riches, whatever that may be.
And the means that he's achieving
this are horrifying
in certain ways.
But we can't forget also that
Venezuelans have dealt with
this regime for over 20 years.
Desperate for anything that
resembles hope.
And this also
provides that.
So we are juggling two
things.
It was horrible to hear
Trump's press conference
the day after the attacks,
how he was going to quote unquote
run Venezuela.
It was repulsive.
It was humiliating.
So it's a very complex
place to be, I think.
I think we can hold both of
those things at the same time.
We can hold on one
hand the idea that
Venezuela, this might be a
path for Venezuela to be
in a better space.
And it also might be a path
to a whole different way of
oppression. And the reality is
we don't know where we're
gonna land. We just know that we are
here now and we have to
try to make the best of it.
For other Americans and Texans who
may not have close ties to Venezuela
as you do, what
do you think is most important to
understand about this moment,
especially about what comes
after a leader like Maduro is
removed?
First of all, we have to
allow Venezuelans to
feel their feelings, like they
are entitled
to feeling happy and
joyous about a terrible
dictator being deposed.
That's on one hand.
On the other hand, we try to
hold our leaders accountable
for the actions that they've done.
Who knows where
we're gonna be a year from
now or two years from now
there might be consequences for
how Trump acted and how he went
about things. And we have to be
open to those kinds of things,
but we have hold both things
at the same time.
We've been speaking with Alejandro
Puyana, a Venezuelan-American
writer now living in Austin.
He's the author of Freedom is a
Feast, and he's been sharing his
perspective with us as part of our
Talk of Texas project.
Alejandro, thanks so much for
joining us on the Texas Standard.
Thank you guys, thank you so much.
We're gonna have a link to all of
today's stories in our show
notes. You can find those wherever
you listen to your podcasts.
Don't forget to subscribe to Austin
Signal. And we have more of
our show over at kut.org
slash signal.
We've got more show for your Friday
coming up after this break.
Welcome back and thank you for
tuning in. This is Austin Signal.
A reminder that free week kicks
off tonight. Lots of live music all
around the city that is known as the
live music capital of the world.
Our sister station, KUTX, is hosting
a showcase tonight indoors at Stubbs
with music starting at seven and
going past midnight.
We have more in our
show notes, kut.org slash
signal.
But let's go back to that moniker
real quick. The live music
capitol of the World.
Just how did Austin end up
with that designation?
Our ETXplain podcast answers
all your questions about Austin's
people, places, and culture, and
they're celebrating 10 years of
answering those questions.
Today, we're gonna go back in time a
decade to an oh-so-familiar
voice. Here is KUT's
Mose Buchele.
No matter what you think of it,
you've got to admit it's been
effective.
Even for people who don't like
music, for people have never been
here.
Austin and music are synonymous.
You live in Chicago now, but like
when you say you're from Austin, do
people bring up music?
I think so.
That's Austin Brown.
Yeah, his first name is Austin.
He asked us a question about the
live music nickname, even though
he's going to school up North.
Like what are some other brands that
cities have?
Have been this effective.
Is there a slogan in Chicago?
Like a moniker?
Nothing about music really, the
windy city,
the city of broad shoulders.
But if you visit Chicago, people
aren't saying, hey, don't miss the
broad shoulders, I can't even think
if LA has a slogan.
The city of angels, but that's...
Oh yeah, yeah,
I don't know exactly what that
means, but I always thought it felt
a little sarcastic.
Austin's more like the little town
that boasts the world's largest ball
of twine.
If you stop there, people are going
to ask you about the twine,
so here's the question.
Where did the live music capital of
the world, Moniker, come from?
Does it feel accurate to residents
or musicians?
Well, let me start by asking you,
does it feel to you, do you think?
Um, I don't know.
We'll get back to that.
First, a little history.
Walk sign is on to cross Barton
Springs at 1st Street.
A lot of people say the music scene
in Austin really took root right
around where I'm standing.
This was around the site of
the old Armadillo World
headquarters. It was one of the
clubs where they say Willie Nelson
helped unite the hippies
and the rednecks.
And that encouraged a vibrant music
scene to take hold that might today
be called Roots
Music or Americana.
Nowadays, this is a surface
level parking lot for a city
office building. There are plenty of
city staffers going in and out.
But there's no music right here.
So instead of staying here and
getting some weird looks,
let's take a trip up your radio
dial.
Yeah, there we go.
We'll find out what happened next.
I'm Jay Trachtenberg.
I'm a music host at our
sister station, or your sister
station KUTX.
That's 98.9, Jay's
been a DJ in town for decades.
I asked him what it was like back in
the 70s and 80s.
I was at a party maybe a
year ago, and
this guy had in his music room,
he had a poster from
Soap Cree.
That was a popular club back in the
day.
It was just a one-month post.
With all the acts playing there that
month.
And within this month,
let's see, Dugsong was there.
Bye!
Game Mouth Brown was there.
Townes Van Zandt and...
Well to live,
to fly, all
alone Hi,
Delbert McClinton, Marsha Ball, Paul
Ray.
To see all these names on one
poster from one club
in one month, you look at this
and you go, I can't believe all
these people were here and this was
only one place.
That old highway
The Austin Chamber of Commerce took
note. One chamber pamphlet from
the 70s said people were calling
Austin a second Nashville.
Well, the scene grew through the
years to include blues, punk,
New Wave.
By the time South by Southwest
started up, the Austin City Limits
PBS show had already been around
for more than a decade,
and the Austin city government
started to see music as
a moneymaker.
They created the Austin Music
Commission to foster the industry in
1988, and clearly
Second Nashville wasn't
gonna cut it.
This is music from a woman named
Lillian Standfield.
Chances are you haven't heard of
her, but when it comes to the live
music nickname, Standfield,
who died several years ago, left a
big mark.
I give 100% of the credit to
Lillian Standfield.
Nancy Copland was the first chair
of the Austin Music Commission.
She says sometime around 1991,
she got a call from Stanfield.
And she said, you know, I just drove
back from a gig in Houston.
And as I pulled into Austin and saw
the Austin City Limits sign,
I thought maybe we should have
something that said Music Capital of
Texas.
The Music Commission looked at how
many venues there were in Austin per
capita.
They decided maybe live music
capital was a better claim.
At that time, City Councilmember Max
Nofziger was Austin Music's biggest
champion at City Hall.
Copeland went to him with the name.
And I said, well,
that's good. I like that, except
this is no time to be modest.
So how about if we become
the music capital of the universe?
I said, we really have no way
to gage that, Max,
I'm not sure they have music on
Mars.
I said, well, let the Martians be
damned. You know, they can invade us
or vaporize us, whatever they would
do.
But I think it'd be worth it.
And she said, you probably couldn't
get that past your city council
colleagues. So we compromised
on Austin, the live music capital of
the world. And brought it to a vote.
At City Hall and that means
if you look through City Council
archives you can find the
exact moment in history
August 29th 1991
when Austin proclaimed
itself the live music
capital of the world I found
a recording of that moment so
I don't know if you want to give it
a listen I'd love to get your
reaction sure and emailed
it to our question asker Austin
Brown here I'll play it right now
Under items from council,
number 46, approve a
resolution declaring the city of
Austin the live music capital of the
world.
47.
Approve a resolution. Here it goes
on for a while.
And upon task force members.
So the consent motion will be item
46 and 47.
Discussion on those?
Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
Aye. Show those approved.
It's a little anti-climactic.
Yeah, yeah, I thought it was kind of
low-key too.
They're just like, yeah sure,
why not?
Let's go for it.
Maybe I should add some music in to
give it a little more oomph.
I feel like it ought to be Willie
Nelson, right?
Sure. Turn out the lights.
The party's over.
There was one final piece to his
question.
What do people think of the
nickname? Back in the 90s, there was
some skepticism.
These days, maybe even more
so. Even Max Nofziger thinks
it might not be accurate anymore.
Austin's just become too expensive
for a lot of musicians to live here.
It would be one way to prove it for
sure if you could find that
old survey the city did to show how
many clubs were here and compare
it to today.
The Austin Convention and Visitors
Bureau that now owns the live music
capital Trademark says it
doesn't have that survey.
I'm gonna keep looking for it, but
until then, The truthfulness
of Austin's live music claim.
Might just depend on who's
listening.
And tomorrow starts
the same old thing again
KUT's Mose Buchele reporting
that story.
And hey, if you've got a question
about Austin that you want answered,
why not ask it?
You can do so at KUT.org.
Well, that's it for Austin Signal
this week.
Thank you for listening.
And if you missed anything or if you
wanna send something you heard to a
friend, you can find more at
Kut.org
slash signal.
Kristen Cabrera is our managing
producer and Rayna Sevilla is
our technical director.
This is Austin Signal
and we will talk to you on
Monday. Have a great weekend.