Vue lecture

Few in Caracas are celebrating as they face an uncertain post-Maduro future

Par :Patricia Torres in Caracas · Tom Phillips in Bogotá and Camille Rodríguez Montilla

4 janvier 2026 à 23:03

Stockpiling not partying is the priority for Venezuelans who say they fear crackdowns by the regime the US left in place

There was a whirlwind of emotions on the streets of Caracas on Sunday, 24 hours after the first-ever large-scale US attack on South American soil and the extraordinary snaring of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

“Uncertainty,” said Griselda Guzmán, a 68-year-old pensioner, fighting back tears as she lined up outside a grocery store with her husband to stock up on supplies in case the coming days brought yet more drama.

Airstrikes, helicopters and a snatch squad with a blowtorch: how the US raid on Caracas unfolded

The Guardian

Par :Tom Phillips · Clavel Rangel · Camille Rodríguez Montilla and Patricia Torres in Caracas

3 janvier 2026 à 17:34

Some suspected the attacks on Venezuela were coming, but the shock was still real and no one knows what will happen next

As they were jolted from their beds just before 2am on Saturday, many Caracas residents sought an innocent explanation for the racket that had interrupted their sleep: an exploding air conditioning unit, a tropical thunderstorm, an earthquake. Or perhaps a festive display of pyrotechnics over Venezuela’s mountain-flanked capital.

“I thought it might be fireworks,” Carlos Hurtado, a resident of the 23 de Enero housing estate on the city’s west side, recalled of the moment he was woken by a mysterious sequence of rumblings and explosions.