caracas, venezuela
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The morning after U.S. forces bombed Caracas, dragged President Nicolas Maduro from his bed and transported him across the Caribbean to a prison in Brooklyn, many Venezuelans rushed to grocery stores.
“Why did you have to go out?” Judith Ledesma said. “I have a pet that needs exercise, and I was really stressed about being inside the house.”
Her orange dog was sitting next to her on a park bench in Caracas with a bunch of shopping bags. Ledesma, who lives near an air base hit by U.S. airstrikes, told CNN he woke up to the noise of the attack.
“I thought it was an earthquake,” Ledesma said. “I got scared and ran out with my daughter and dog.”
“We have no idea what our fate will be in this new situation,” Ledesma continued. “I’m in total darkness. I have no idea what’s going to happen to this country and to us.”
The Caracas government is asking Venezuelans to leave their homes, although the streets are quiet except for a small group of militiamen on motorcycles. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López told citizens on Sunday to “recommence all types of activities, including economic, work and educational activities within the next few days.”
Olga Jimenez told CNN that she finally left her home on Sunday after being home all Saturday. Maduro or no Maduro, Jimenez said, it doesn’t make much of a difference in Venezuela. Except the queue at the store might change.
“I was glued to the TV and watching what was going on, but there’s an uncertainty there,” Jimenez said. “It doesn’t feel like a change of government because everything is the same. The only thing I can say is that we don’t know.”
“What’s happening to us is that places aren’t open and you have to line up to buy anything. It’s like we’re going back to the days of Chávez, where you had to line up everywhere just to buy things,” Jimenez added. “I don’t know what to say, but it was the Maduro regime and they should have taken everyone, not just Maduro.”
Meanwhile, Maria Azocal told CNN: “I’ve been through so much that I don’t have anything to worry about anymore.”
“As I say, this is for the history books,” Azocar said, naming Venezuela’s past leaders. “(Marcos) Pérez Jiménez, (Isaias Medina) Angarita, Romulo Gallegos, Juan Vicente Gómez – people who were overthrown or exiled at the time.”
Regarding the attack, Azokar said, “Let me be clear: this was really an abuse on the part of the Americans, because they threatened the people with missiles. This says it all.”
He added that acting President Delcy Rodriguez, whom Azocar said US President Donald Trump “appointed” to lead the country, is “a woman of real strength.”
“Thanks to her, I think people’s hearts will be softened a little bit, in one way or another,” Azokar said.
For now, the United States appears to be accepting Rodriguez’s appointment. On Saturday, President Trump told reporters that he doesn’t think opposition leader Maria Colina Machado has the “respect” or “support” to lead the country.
Resident Mario Valdez told CNN he believed an immediate and forced transition to opposition rule “could lead us to violence.”
“That means the Red Army will leave and the Blue Army will take over,” Valdez said, referring to the left and right, respectively. “At this moment, after 26 years of Chavismo rule, the country cannot cope because there will be another bloodshed like we have experienced in the past.”
Still, Valdez said he hopes for an eventual transition to democracy.
“I believe that this democratic transition must happen, and we are all part of it,” Vlades said. “The first thing the president of the republic must do is release all political prisoners. There is no reason to keep them in prison.”
Valdez also said he expects international oil companies to return to Venezuela. He said his country had been plundered by Russia, China and Iran for years, but he had received nothing in return for Venezuela’s vast oil wealth.
“They stole all the money from this country to build massive projects and did absolutely nothing,” Valdez said. “The expressway is unfinished.”
Overall, Valdez said he was not surprised by Maduro’s abduction. “President Maduro should have been careful and accepted one of the offers that were presented to him. He had multiple offers.”
“He should have called new elections,” Valdez said, referring to the 2024 elections that most observers believe Maduro lost even as he clung to power. “If it were me, I would do it. I would hold new elections with a new National Electoral Council, change the situation, evoke a spirit of harmony in the country and allow all organizations to participate.”
“But that didn’t happen, so the consequences happened without making any value judgments about whether it was all right or wrong.”
