Caracas reels after a US military operation removes Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with residents facing an uncertain future under potential US administration.
CARACAS: A lingering smell of explosives hung over Venezuela’s capital on Saturday as shocked residents took stock after an early-morning US strike that ousted strongman Nicolas Maduro.
The streets were eerily quiet apart from a few hundred Maduro supporters who gathered to clamour for his freedom.
“I felt the explosions lift me out of bed. In that instant I thought: ‘My God, the day has come,’ and I cried,” resident Maria Eugenia Escobar told AFP.
The strikes started around 2:00 am local time, with dozens of detonations that some people at first mistook for fireworks.
Windows rattled from the shockwaves as military aircraft zoomed overhead.
Residents saw columns of smoke rising from several parts of the city, which was soon cloaked in a fog-like haze.
Witnesses spoke of bombings at La Guaira, Caracas’s airport and port, and in other cities.
In the aftermath, Venezuelans learned US special forces had seized Maduro and taken him to face trial in New York.
A few hundred supporters gathered in Caracas to demand news of their leader’s fate.
“How is it that a foreign government comes into the country and removes the president? It’s absurd!” university professor Katia Briceno told AFP.
Apart from the protesters, there were few Venezuelans out, and just occasional cars on the usually bustling streets.
Those who did venture out did so under the watchful eye of black-clad agents patrolling the centre with long guns.
Damage from the explosions was mostly limited to military installations, where vehicles stood riddled by bullets.
Defence Minister General Vladimir Padrino Lopez accused US forces of attacking civilian areas.
President Donald Trump said no US soldiers died in Saturday’s strikes, but the toll on the Venezuelan side remained unknown.
He said he was “not afraid of boots on the ground” and mooted the possibility of a “much bigger” second wave of strikes.
Trump also said the United States will “run” Venezuela until a political transition occurs.
He appeared to scotch any expectation that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado might emerge as Venezuela’s new leader.
Trump indicated he could instead work with Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodriguez.
Opposition leader Machado insists Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom the opposition says won elections in July 2024, “must immediately assume his constitutional mandate” as president.
Neighbouring Colombia was reinforcing its border with Venezuela, using tanks and armed soldiers.
Colombian security forces deployed at the main border crossings on the orders of leftist President Gustavo Petro.
Petro’s government has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis with migrants pouring over the border.
However, on the Simon Bolivar bridge, the main crossing point, the number of people walking across on Saturday was far below normal.
