Armed militias deployed in Venezuela as regime attempts to impose authority | US attack on Venezuela

Venezuelan rulers deployed armed militias to patrol the streets, operate checkpoints and check people’s phones in an effort to consolidate authority after the US attack on Caracas.

Paramilitary groups known as colectivos rolled over the capital on Tuesday on motorcycles and assault rifles in a show of force to suppress any dissent or perceived power vacuum.

Patrols stopped and searched cars and demanded access to people’s phones, checking their contacts, messages and social media posts, in a harsh demonstration to the public that the regime remained in power despite the kidnapping of president Nicolás Maduro.

Mirelvis Escalona, ​​40, who lives in Caracas’ western neighborhood of Catia, said anyone suspected of supporting Saturday’s US raid could be arrested. “There is fear. There are armed civilians here. You never know what will happen, they may attack people.”

Some semblance of normalcy has returned to much of the city, with shops and bakeries reopening and people going to work; but the uncertainty of what would happen next created a fiery mood.

Interim president Delcy Rodríguez has tried to project a sense of calm and control since being sworn in on Monday, but there has been no hiding the government’s shock and uneasiness.

In addition to the humiliation of Maduro’s appearance in a New York court on drug trafficking charges, authorities face the risk of a new US attack, economic collapse, the disintegration of the domestic regime and the return of opposition leaders based abroad.

Gunfire erupted on Monday night when security forces opened fire on unauthorized drones, reportedly confused with another US operation. “There has been no conflict, the whole country remains completely calm,” deputy information minister Simon Arrechider told reporters.

But there is a tense calm.

At least 14 journalists and media workers, including 13 members of international media organizations, were detained in Caracas on Monday. All but one were later released.

An emergency decree sought to stamp out any public celebration of Maduro’s ouster and directed police to search for and arrest “anyone who encourages or supports armed aggression by the United States.”

Footage posted on social media showed collectives (some wearing masks) blocking highways, canvassing pro-opposition neighborhoods and questioning residents, encouraging people to warn friends and family via WhatsApp and other platforms to leave their phones at home or clear them of political content.

Interior minister Diosdado Cabello posted a photo of himself posing with police officers carrying guns and chanting “always loyal, never traitor.”

Jeaneth Fuentes, 53, a doctor at a private clinic in Caracas, said the presence of armed groups – some in uniform, others in civilian clothes – makes commuting feel like gambling. “Scary, terrifying.”

The gunfire Monday night added to the sense that anything could happen, he said. “I can’t make plans, living every minute one by one.” He only leaves the house for work and never after 6pm.

Fuentes expressed hope that the current turmoil could lead to the end of the Chavismo movement, which Hugo Chavez brought to power in 1999. “If something has been built over so many years, it cannot be destroyed in one day.”

Government supporters, on the contrary, condemned Maduro’s kidnapping and said they would defend Venezuela’s sovereignty. “The Venezuelan people have a fighting spirit in their nature,” said Willmer Flores, a finance ministry employee. We are America’s saviors and we are not afraid of anything.” He pledged solidarity with Maduro.

With the Trump administration’s warning of potential new military strikes and a blockade on oil exports restricting revenues, there is speculation about divisions within the regime over how to accommodate Trump while maintaining its anti-imperialist credentials. Unlike Rodríguez, who faces no charges in the United States, ministers like Cabello, who is accused of drug trafficking, could lose not only their power but also their freedom.

Another concern for the government is that María Corina Machado, the fugitive opposition leader who mobilized millions of voters last year, fled to Oslo to collect the Nobel peace prize and has now vowed to return.

“I plan to return home as soon as possible,” he told Fox News. “We believe this transition needs to move forward,” he said in an interview on Fox News. “We won the election by a landslide under fraudulent conditions. We will win more than 90 percent of the vote in free and fair elections.”

But Trump publicly rejected Machado, saying he lacked support in Venezuela, and tacitly approved the continuation of Chavista rule under Rodríguez, provided he meets U.S. demands, including privileged access to U.S. oil companies.