An anxious quiet fell over Venezuela’s capital on Sunday as trepidation mixed with joy while a nation waited to see what comes next.
People were slow to resume routines in Caracas after President Nicolás Maduro was deposed and captured in a dramatic US military operation. Dozens of stores, restaurants and churches remained closed. Those on the streets looked shell-shocked, staring at their phones or into the distance.
“People are still shaken,” said 77-year-old David Leal, who arrived to work as a parking attendant but realised he likely would not have customers. He pointed to the deserted street, a few blocks from Venezuela’s presidential palace, which was guarded by armed civilians and military personnel.
‘May God give us strength’
Venezuela is no stranger to political tumult, but the the dead-of-night US military operation early Saturday marked a new chapter with no ready script.
US President Donald Trump initially said the US would “run” the country until there was stability, a remark that Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to walk back on Sunday.
Rubio insisted in interviews that Washington will use control of Venezuela’s oil industry to force policy changes, and called the government currently in place illegitimate. The country is home to the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves.
“We want to see Venezuela transition to be a place completely different than what it looks like today. But obviously, we don’t have the expectation that’s going to happen in the next 15 hours,” Rubio said.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, flanked by the high military command, told Venezuelans that Maduro was still the rightful leader. Presidential duties, however, now belong to Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, whom the high court ordered to assume the role of interim president.
Rodríguez made no public comment Sunday.
Maduro’s cadre of government officials demanded his release from custody in New York, where his first court appearance is set for Monday. State-controlled media did not air the images of him handcuffed on US soil.
Venezuelans instead saw them on social media, and many could not believe their eyes.
“May God give us strength for what we are experiencing. I’m sad. He is a human being,” said Nely Gutiérrez, a retiree, as her eyes welled with tears. “They have him handcuffed, and if he is in the hands of the empire, no one can save him from there, only God, not even God. He will die there.”
Gutiérrez had walked to church only to find it closed. She said she would have prayed for peace in Venezuela and for Maduro. She declined to say whether she ever voted for him but said, “The word of God says love your enemy.”
Fear of celebrating
In the US and some Latin American countries, Maduro’s ouster was celebrated.
In Venezuela, the scene was different, with some supporters burning US flags and holding signs reading “Gringo go home.”
Others muted any anti-Maduro feelings for now. Construction worker Daniel Medalla said people did not dare celebrate out of fear of government repression. “We were longing for it,” Medalla, 66, said of Maduro’s exit.
Memories remain fresh of the government crackdown following the 2024 presidential election, which Maduro claimed to have won despite credible evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Protests left 28 people dead, 220 injured and at least 2,000 detained, according to official figures.
The presence of police and military personnel across Caracas on Sunday was notable for its smaller size compared with an average day. Soldiers attempted to clear an area of an air base that burned along with at least three passenger buses during the US attack.
Rubio in interviews said no US forces were on the ground in Venezuela but didn’t rule out further strikes there.
Death toll from US operation still unclear
Venezuelan officials have said Saturday’s operation killed civilians and military personnel. But they have not given a toll, and the government’s press office has not responded to multiple requests.
In the coastal state of La Guaira, families with houses damaged during the operation were cleaning up debris.
Wilman González, left with a black eye from a blast, picked through rubble at home, surrounded by broken furniture. One part of his apartment building was almost entirely blown off, leaving walls gaping.
Among those killed was González’s aunt.
“This is it, what we are left with: ruins,” he said.
González spoke with anger at the wreckage but also at the compounding economic and political crises that Venezuela has endured for decades.
“We are civilians. We are not with the government or anyone else,” he said.
Venezuela’s VP could face worse fate: Trump
Washington, Jan 5 (AP): US President Donald Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday in a telephone interview that Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s vice president, could “pay a very big price” if she doesn’t do what he thinks is right for the South American country.
That contrasted with the Republican president’s comments about Rodríguez on Saturday when he said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken with her and that she was willing to do what the US thinks is needed to improve the standard of living in Venezuela.
But Rodríguez has criticised Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s removal from the country and has demanded that the US return him.
Trump told the magazine that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.” The president told the New York Post in an interview Saturday that the US wouldn’t need to station troops in Venezuela if she “does what we want.”
Cuba says 32 Cuban officers were killed in US operation in Venezuela
Havana, Jan 5 (AP): An American military operation in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban officers over the weekend, the Cuban government said Sunday in the first official death count provided of the American strikes in the South American nation.
The Cuban military and police officers were on a mission the Caribbean country’s military was carrying out at the request of Venezuela’s government, according to a statement read on Cuban state TV on Sunday night.
What the Cubans were working on in the South American nation was unclear, but Cuba is a close ally of Venezuela’s government and has sent military and police forces to assist in operations for years. Rumours of the deaths circulated on the island over the weekend.
“You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday,” US President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew Sunday night from Florida back to Washington. “There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side.”
The US operation Saturday seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife to face prosecution on an indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
While Venezuela’s government has acknowledged that a number of people died in the American blasts, they did not confirm how many were killed to The Associated Press.
Cuba’s government announced two days of mourning for the Cuban officers who were killed, and former president and revolutionary leader Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel sent condolences to their families. The names of the dead and the positions they held were not immediately disclosed by Cuban authorities.
“Faithful to their responsibilities for security and defense, our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism and fell after fierce resistance in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombings of the facilities,” the official statement said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also pointed to Cuban involvement in Venezuela over the weekend, saying that Maduro’s internal security apparatus was headed by Cubans and that they were “propping up Maduro.”
“All the guards that help protect Maduro — this is well known — their whole spy agency, all that were full of Cubans,” Rubio said.