Extract from ABC News
In Caracas, some fear America's intervention in Venezuela will lead to more economic turmoil, but there are hopes for a brighter future. (Reuters: Matias Delacroix)
Caracas retiree Gloria Pérez* dreams of the days of Venezuela's "Fourth Republic" – the decades of democracy before socialist revolutionary Hugo Chávez took power in 1999.
"You could afford to go out on a Saturday or Sunday to get an ice cream, to be with your family," Ms Pérez, a grandmother of six, remembers.
"You can't do that anymore.
"You can't even afford a bus fare."
Ms Pérez once made a good living at a government department, where she worked for several decades. Now, she says, she receives a monthly pension of 300 Bolivars – about $1.50.
"It makes me laugh to say it, but that's not even enough to buy me a lollipop."
Food shortages and hyperinflation have eased somewhat in recent years, but most Venezuelans still live in poverty. (AP: Matias Delacroix)
Like other public sector workers and retirees, she also receives a "war bonus" – a subsidy introduced by the Maduro government, supposedly to offset the effects of US sanctions.
It equates to about $150 a month – nowhere near enough to cover basic living expenses.
"I could eat well for a week, and the other days … I'd have to beg for food," Ms Pérez says.
It is a daily struggle that is typical for Venezuelans, who have for years suffered under economic collapse, hyperinflation and incomes that cannot cover basic needs.
"The rich have become poor, and the middle class has fallen into poverty, and poverty is at its most extreme," says Ms Pérez. "There are many politicians, the so-called 'cronies', who are the only ones who have risen with this government. Everyone, everybody has fallen."
Her husband makes a small income from working as a security guard, but Ms Pérez is dependent on their daughter, who – as is typical in Venezuela – does several jobs.
Without revealing specifics, Ms Pérez says her daughter works for the government, for a private company and for herself.
"I call her my husband," Ms Pérez tells the ABC. "She is the one who contributes everything."
Survival demands creativity
The US, having snatched and deposed President Nicolás Maduro a week ago, is pledging to tap back into the country's oil reserves and share the riches with the Venezuelan people. But details are vague, and the Trump administration's stated priority is restoring access for American companies.
There is widespread anxiety that America's sudden intervention could lead to more violence and spark more economic turmoil.
Oil pumps feature in street art in Caracas. (AP: Matias Delacroix)
Reliable data is unavailable, but anecdotally, the prices of meat, fish and drinking water have doubled since the end of the year, and retailers are jacking up prices in anticipation of living costs rising further.
"People are mostly still very much so focused on trying to survive in this moment," says Rebecca Hanson, a Venezuela expert at the University of Florida.
Many people work solely for themselves in Venezuela's "informal" economy. Those with formal employment commonly have informal side hustles.
"People have tried to be very creative," Professor Hanson says.
"So they might make food and sell it. They might sew and repair clothes… It's a lot of trying to figure out what you can do with your own two hands."
The economy has seen a little improvement in recent years. Hyperinflation has eased and food shortages are not as severe. Crime also appears to be down, though reliable official data is unavailable.
But corruption remains rampant, gangs are now more organised, and "the police have become incredibly embedded in extortion networks," Professor Hanson says.
"Extortion has just really gone off the charts the past few years."
Risks of speaking
State repression in Venezuela can make public opinion difficult to gauge, and speaking to foreign media is risky for Venezuelans.
Many are reluctant to be interviewed, even anonymously, for fear of retribution from the Maduro regime, which remains largely intact and in control.
A state of emergency decree, implemented after the US intervention, orders police to arrest "everyone involved in the promotion or support" for the attack.
There are reports of journalists being detained, and of civilians having their phones searched for anything considered anti-regime.
The ABC has changed the names of the Venezuelans in this story for their safety.
Venezuelans commonly work multiple jobs to try to make ends meet. (Reuters: Gaby Oraa)
"Venezuelans live with fear of writing a tweet or posting a video on Instagram or making a comment in the street," Jorge García, a teacher in his 30s, told the ABC at Cucuta, on the Colombian side of the Venezuelan border.
"We live with a lot of fear. We have seen how people like our neighbours and family members are thrown in jail."
Mr García was in Colombia during the US strike on Caracas, but had to return to Venezuela a few days later.
"Let’s hope that through this situation they will start offering us real guarantees and that we’re in a real transition to democracy," he said.
"I’m talking about the freeing of political prisoners, removing censorship for digital media, traditional media, websites. Venezuelans don’t even have access to some social media platforms, like X."
Cautious hope
In October, an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll asked Venezuelans if they supported a US military intervention to depose Nicolas Maduro in his government.
Inside Venezuela, only about a third of respondents said they supported a US intervention, compared to two thirds of Venezuelans who had left the country.
In the days after the US acted, the ABC encountered a range of viewpoints in Caracas.
In the poorer, traditionally pro-Chávez neighbourhood of Catia, one Maduro loyalist said he was "demanding the release of our president, who was kidnapped by the empire—the evil empire, the sadistic empire, the drug-addicted empire".
Another said the decision to "mess with Venezuelans" was the "worst thing that could have happened to Trump". "Now, he better get ready, because there's a furious people here, demanding the return of our president."
Catia is a poorer neighbourhood of Caracas. (Reuters: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
In the less poor neighbourhood of Chacao, people who spoke to the ABC praised the US action and called for new national elections, which they were confident would be won by opposition leader María Corina Machado.
"We have to be careful and protect ourselves because we're afraid that [the regime] might do something to us for speaking out too much," one man said.
"But we support a transition for peace and tranquility, and for Venezuela to rise. That's what we want, that's what everyone in Venezuela wants."
The Trump administration has made clear an election is not a short-term priority.
Rather, it is seeking to deal with the interim government – comprised of members of the Maduro regime. American military might is still amassed in the Caribbean and the US plans to control the movement of oil to maintain leverage over the country's leaders.
But Ms Pérez is also hopeful life in Venezuela will soon improve.
"We have all the hope in the world, and hope in God, who is paramount, and in our leaders, like María Corina Machado," she said.
"I tell my daughters and my grandchildren that the time has come for us to remove the stones and thorns that are in our path, and move towards a democracy.
"Not like the previous one, no. It's going to be better, much better, than the one we had in the Fourth Republic. I have that faith."
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