The scandal generated by the American bombs that hit several military targets in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, in the early hours of this Saturday Venezuelaand in three other states of the country, mutated until it became the greatest silence, which generates the uncertainty of not knowing who will govern the country, after the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
“Everything is very calm. The silence is rather worrying. The anxiety and fear is worse than the day after the July 28 elections,” said Keddy Moreno, an opposition community leader who, although she dreamed of Maduro’s departure, this Saturday regrets that that day will come without the clarity she expected.
Their confusion comes from the president’s statements Donald Trumpwho stated that his Government will administer Venezuela until a “correct transition” is achieved and who, in addition, said that he held conversations with Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguezin which she assured him that they were willing to cooperate with the United States.
The statements contrast with those that the Venezuelan vice president herself issued hours later, this same Saturday, highlighting that The Chavista leader is “the only president” of the Caribbean country.
Also added is the statement from the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machadowho said that the opposition is ready to “take power” and demanded the appointment of Edmundo González Urrutiawhom anti-Chavismo considers the winner of the 2024 presidential elections, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
The panorama and the multiple interests presented by each of them seem well condensed in the opinion of Alfredo Sanz, a coffee seller from Caracas who assured that “with or without Maduro in Miraflores (presidential house) all Venezuelans have to go out to work to look for bread, to see if they eat, regardless of the decisions that politicians make.”
Deserted streets, markets with queues
That same premise of “looking for bread” was what motivated the people of Caracas to go out this Saturday, although timidly, to search for open shops and supermarkets and to stand in long lines to buy food and get fuel.
To the few but forceful cries of euphoria that were heard in Caracas celebrating the capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Floresa complete silence followed that was only broken on a few avenues in which a store, bakery or supermarket decided to open to serve in groups those who lined up on the outskirts.
Instead, in areas close to the power centers of the Venezuelan government, some Maduro followers gathered to demand his release and show their rejection of any US intervention in Venezuela.
The militarization of the capital that all citizens expected was not such either. Although they could be seen in the streets some police officers on motorcyclesas well as officials from the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (militarized police), the presence of national guards was minimal.
“I think that they quartered the military because I decided to open this Saturday morning and I haven’t seen the first guard pass by here,” said Carolina Pereira, owner of a kiosk on a busy avenue in eastern Caracas.
Meanwhile, shoppers looking for drinking water, non-perishable food and medicine spent hours waiting to enter the stores commenting on their experiences during the early hours of this Sunday and expressing their concern about not knowing what is coming for Venezuela.
“These types of interventions usually entail a even greater destabilizationnot knowing what Trump’s real intentions are, what is really going to happen (…) and it is a total uncertainty. I feel that the next few days are going to be very tense,” he admitted. Adri Veroes, who lives very close to La Carlotaone of the military bases bombed this Saturday in Caracas.
Veroes recalled how he felt that the windows of his apartment almost exploded due to the bombing and his disbelief at what he saw on social networks, which confirmed to him that it was the “intervention” that the Chavista forces denounced for so many months that was going to take place in Venezuela.
Some people who were listening to the girl’s story intervened to present their theories about what happened: ““I believe they betrayed Maduro.”someone said; to which another responded: “Noooo, that one turned himself in out of fear and now he’s going to tell everything.”
But a young boy who was listening to the conversation suddenly intervened to state: “I have no idea what is going to happen, but as long as several of the Chavistas remain here we will never get rid of that plague.”