What some Venezuelans at the Colombian border are thinking after Maduro's capture

Carlos Pérez said people in his Venezuelan metropolis of San Cristóbal, which sits nigh the edge with republic of colombia, ar still trying to live their normal lives, despite the uncertainty that now shrouds the country following a U.S. Military strike over the weekend. 

Pérez, 66, said Venezuelans have grown accustomed to living through adversity and his family, friends and neighbours were now preparing to face whatever comes next. 

He said most of the people he knows are sticking close to home, for now.  

“We are just waiting, like every Venezuelan, waiting,” said Pérez, who was crossing the Simón Bolívar International Bridge by foot from the western Venezuelan state of Táchira into Colombia.

San Cristóbal sits about 40 kilometres east of the bridge that became one of the main crossings for a massive exodus of Venezuelans seeking to flee a country in the grip of an economic crisis and an authoritarian regime led by Nicolas Maduro.

In the wake of the U.S. Military operation, the Colombian military had stationed soldiers and tanks at the foot of the bridge in preparation for an expected influx of Venezuelans. However, there was no surge in crossings and the back-and-forth traffic remained at normal levels.

Maduro was captured by the U.S. In the early morning hours Saturday during a military strike on Venezuela involving 150 aircraft and 200 special forces troops. 

Maduro and his wife Celia Flores pleaded not guilty during their initial appearance before a U.S. Federal court in New York City Monday. They are both facing charges related to narco-terrorism, cocaine and weapons. 

“Something had to be done, and it was done," said Escolastica Rodríguez, 72. "We are waiting for something better to come."

Rodríguez is from Valencia, a city about 167 kilometres east of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Rodríguez was walking with Pérez on a day trip across the bridge, which sits about 843 kilometres southwest of Caracas.

Venezuelans began leaving the country en masse in 2015 as a result of a collapsed economy and the increased repression under Maduro, who took over Venezuela's presidency after the 2013 death of Hugo Chávez Frías.

Maduro has held onto the presidential post through elections widely criticized as fraudulent.

At one point, between 2018 and 2019, tens of thousands of Venezuelans were crossing the Simón Bolívar International Bridge every day. Over seven million Venezuelans have left the country in a little over a decade, according to the International Organization for Migration.  

Neyla Duarte, 43, is one of those people, having left for Colombia 11 years ago. She said the U.S. Military operation gave Venezuela a hope she believed was long lost.

“Many of our parents, many people were never able to live to see this moment…. We want the Venezuela that we lived with in the past. Right now it’s not there, but we want it,” she said. 

“I have hope, a lot of hope that we will see a democratic change, which is what we most need in this country.” 

Duarte, who wants to return to Venezuela permanently someday, was crossing the bridge from Colombia into Venezuela to accompany her goddaughter, Jelis Mendoza, 20, to renew her Venezuelan identification card. 

The Trump administration launched its attack on Venezuela and captured Maduro after exerting months of pressure through a military buildup in the Caribbean and by launching several missile strikes — with questionable legality, according to some legal experts — on boats claimed to have been ferrying cocaine from Venezuela.

Mendoza said her parents took her to live in Chile seven years ago to give her a better future. When she first heard about the attack on Saturday, she initially worried for her family still in the country. 

“But thankfully, everyone was safe and happy.... It was necessary and it was something that Venezuela needed so it could get out of the situation it was in,” she said.

"Right now it's to difficult [to return to Venezuela], because it still lacks many things it needs to get out of the situation its in, but hopefully, in the future, yes [I want to return], because it's our country, and we always want to return."

The Venezuelan government has attempted to project a sense of calm and stability with an edge of defiance. 

On Monday, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president. The government announced a new special commission to “liberate” Maduro and Flores from U.S. Custody. 

In a statement issued Sunday and posted to social media, Rodríguez called on U.S. President Donald Trump to “collaborate … on an agenda of co-operation.” The statement said that Venezuela had a “right to peace, development, sovereignty and a future.” 

Trump has said that the U.S. Is currently “in charge” of Venezuela. He has threatened another round of attacks if the country bucks his demands, which include opening up its nationalized vast oil reserves to U.S. Oil companies. 

Gerson Alvarado, 73, who lives in San Antonio de Tachira, in the western Venezuelan state of Tachira, said he was worried it remained unclear who was currently in charge of the country —Rodríguez, the Venezuelan military or the U.S.

Alvarado, a retired history teacher who was crossing with one of his grandchildren who wanted to go shopping in Cúcuta, Colombia, said he hoped that Trump would handle Venezuela with “a lot of care” because the situation on the ground remained potentially volatile.

“We don’t want a civil war between Venezuelans."

Reporter

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