US Military attacks Venezuela, captures Maduro

[Mercado4]

Just want to share some news from my Venezuelan friends living near Maracaibo. (Side note: I used to live in Colombia, near the border with Venezuela so I met a lot Venezolans there).

Here is the summary of our conversation - note that my friends were NOT supporters of Mr. Maduro - but are even more against the US invasion:
- martial law has been declared
- everything is closed (supermarkets, offices, etc)
- people tend to stay at home - with the exception of Caracas where there were a couple of protest demonstrations
- military is patrolling the streets and actively "recruit" the unfortunate men that venture outside - but not women
- Colombia has moved around 25,000 soldiers to the border with Venezuela (2,200 km long) and anticipate additional flow of refugees so they are preparing border towns like Maicao, Cucuta, Valledupar etc.
for emergency accommodations of these refugees

 

[JohnnyDoe]

nihil sub sole novum

 

[Paratore]

I doubt Trump cares who is in charge there now, whether it’s Delcy or that Nobel prize woman, so long as American companies get the oil and minerals and Russian and Chinese companies don’t.

 

[Mercado4]

A couple of more updates from Venezuela from my yesterday's conversation with my friends.

1. School should have started around Jan 19, but there are rumours that it will be delayed by 2 weeks.
2. Criticism of the current government (that would include open support for the US invasion) will trigger at a minimum a visit from the local police, or worse.
3. 1 kg of meat (mixed - chicken, steak, ground beef) is being sold at US$35.00. (For comparison, in Colombia in 2024 1 kg of high quality steak was US$4-$5 and 1 kg of chicken breast US$2.50-$3.00. Prior to the invasion, food prices in Venezuela were somehow higher than in Colombia, say 20-35% but not by this much.
4. Most everything remains closed.