As night falls in Caracas, tension returns to its streets.
Every motorcycle, every car, every person that passes by generates suspicion and concern.
The situation is in stark contrast to the Caracas I arrived in on July 18, ten days before a controversial election that has transformed the daily lives of millions of Venezuelans.
It was a Caracas that seemed much more dynamic to me than the one I visited in 2019, when Venezuela was in one of the hardest moments of an economic crisis that still plagues the majority and has pulverized the standard of living and income of Venezuelans.
I also perceived her as less insecure.
A week before the election, I was part of a tourist tour in Petare, one of the largest popular neighborhoods in Latin America, located in the east of the city.
I went with a group of Russian tourists taking photos with their smartphones in what used to be a crime-ridden area years ago where no one went unless it was necessary.
I walked around the historic center, where I visited cafes and restaurants like those in any other large Latin American city, something that was not often seen in that area before.
The people of Caracas looked happy, despite the adversities. Bars and clubs were packed with people who thought the worst of the crisis was over.
They hoped that the future would be better: “The economic situation has improved a little,” they told me. It grew by 3.6% in the second quarter of this year.
And many were excited about a possible change of government.
I felt reconciled with the country where I was born, with its smiling, generous, supportive and warm people. I understood why so many foreigners fall in love with Venezuela when they visit it.
But then came the presidential election on July 28.
Andrea*, a 22-year-old woman who lives in 23 de Enero, a working-class neighborhood in the west of Caracas, tells me that everything changed that day.
“Since the election and the repression of the protests that have followed We are all afraid”We are very cautious. Many people don’t even dare to talk about politics in public anymore,” he murmurs from a deserted corner in the historic centre of Caracas, where he works as a businessman.
“On January 23rd, which is always very busy at night and people tend to play music at full volume, you can’t hear anything and everyone stays home after 7 p.m.”
A feeling of “curfew”
Indeed, in some working-class areas the streets are extremely deserted. There seems to be a de facto curfew that no one talks about but that everyone knows is there.
“In La Piedrita (a sector of 23 de Enero) it was rumored that The buses were going to impose a curfew, but they didn’t have to make it official“Everyone obeys it,” Andrea adds.
The colectivos are organizations created by Hugo Chávez and loyal to Chavismo that many describe as paramilitary.
“After the election, many people joined the protests in the 23 de Enero area, which has always been very Chavista. But the groups threatened people by telling them that they would knock on their doors if they banged pots and pans, and that calmed the protests in that area.”
Another event that reinforces the feeling of “curfew” is the extensive police patrol that can be seen in some working-class neighborhoods. Military convoys can even be seen driving through Caracas late at night.
Carlos*, a young man from the El Calvario neighborhood in El Hatillo (southeast of Caracas), witnessed an event that has traumatized his community after many of its inhabitants went out to protest against what they consider electoral fraud.
On the same night of Sunday, July 28, after the National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE) announced a controversial result that declared the winner of the presidential elections to Nicolas Maduro With 51% of the votes, a series of protests broke out throughout Venezuela.
Unlike the CNE, the opposition, led by candidate Edmundo González and María Corina Machado, showed 80% of the records that reveal González’s victory.
The protests intensified the following day and some ended in clashes with authorities that left at least 11 dead and more than 1,000 people arrested, according to Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights NGO.
“The street is tense”
On the morning of Tuesday, July 30, Carlos was sleeping when screams of despair and rage, mixed with loud knocks on the door of his neighbor’s house, woke him up.
According to the report, officials from DAET, the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions of the Bolivarian National Police, went to the scene after the neighborhood went out to protest on Monday after the election.
“They almost knocked down the door. Then one of the policemen shouted: ‘This is not the place.’ And they immediately started knocking on the door of the house next door. They did the same thing in four other houses until they found the people they were looking for,” he tells me in the darkness from an empty parking lot near the El Calvario neighborhood.
“They took six kids away. They released two of them, who supposedly returned home beaten. Nothing is known about those who remained in custody.”
Carlos feels that “the street is tense” and says that his acquaintances go out to carry out basic activities and only if it is strictly necessary.
“Several people are having their phones checked in the street to see if they have images or videos of protests or if they have been sharing information about what is happening. And if they find that type of content, they are arrested,” he continues.
“They attack people from the (popular) neighborhoods because they are afraid that they will turn against them and take to the streets en masse.”
A friend of Andrea’s was arrested on Tuesday at 23 de Enero and asked for her phone number. She says that luckily she had left it at home. They only asked for her ID before letting her go. But she has been traumatized and refuses to leave her house since the incident.
“People now clean their phones of photos that could be seen as contrary to Nicolás Maduro or delete all compromising conversations before leaving their homes,” the young woman explains.
A “neutralization” of the popular sectors
Human rights activist Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the Penal Forum, says that the repression has been indiscriminate, nationwide and has focused on poor neighborhoods.
“The majority of those arrested are very humble people. They are arrested while demonstrating, when they are returning from their homes after a demonstration, and they have even arrested people who were not even demonstrating,” he told BBC Mundo.
Himiob explains that in Venezuelan neighborhoods there are organizations that the government calls “citizen intelligence mechanisms” that report on opposing neighbors, who are searched in their homes and arrested.
“You can’t call them raids, because raids imply a certain legality. They arbitrarily enter houses and arrest people. We received a recent case in which they took the mother of a 15-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy. They released the mother and the baby, and left the teenager in prison.”
Almost all of those arrested are being charged with terrorism and inciting hatred.
The human rights lawyer claims that this is a critical situation that he describes as a “state policy aimed at neutralizing the popular sectors” that identify with the opposition political movement.
The government claims that the opposition is encouraging a “coup d’état.”
“He who does not work does not eat”
At 7pm on Tuesday I arrived at 23 de Enero, an area known for its festivities and bustling street life. However, I found deserted streets and only a few open shops.
“In Caracas, people are opening their businesses because in today’s Venezuela, if you don’t work, you don’t eat, but sales are much lower than before and there are many businesses that simply aren’t opening, especially in the city center,” a neighbor who owns a grocery store tells me.
“But in areas like 23 de Enero or Catia (a working-class neighborhood in western Caracas), where buses rule and they charge extortionate taxes, many are forced to open,” he adds.
“Venezuela is currently being governed by fear”.
At that time, the few motorcycles and people I come across look at me with the same distrust that they generate in me.
Due to the low number of customers, many businesses there and in the city centre are now deciding to close earlier than usual.
In the middle-class areas in the east of the city there is no less fear.
Valentina*, an engineer who lives in Bello Campo, admits that she has been terrified of leaving her house since she attended a protest rally on Monday, July 29.
“I live nearby, so I went over and stayed for a while. I was watching everything on a corner with my brother. Suddenly they started throwing tear gas and we had to take refuge in a building where neighbours were helping people trying to escape,” he told BBC Mundo.
“I saw people being dragged away, especially kids on motorbikes. Several were robbed.”
Although during the first week after the election there was little or no commercial activity in different areas of Caracas, necessity has made many people gradually open their businesses and go out to work.
Some bars have also reopened, although they only receive a quarter of the number of party-goers they used to. “Life goes on,” they tell me.
Once again, at first glance, everything seems to be returning to a certain normality while waiting for the political conflict to reach a resolution.
Meanwhile, Caracas residents whisper about the latest they heard about the wave of arrests and erase conversations, distrust each other and are afraid of making a false step.
The great uncertainty that dominates the city prevents a return to the Caracas before July 28.
*Their names have been changed to protect their identities.
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