Voices from inside Venezuela after the U.S. attack

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Elio Mendoza was woken up in his home near Caracas Saturday morning by the sound of airplanes and explosions.

Mendoza said he imagined he was awakened by what has been happening in the news. “And then,” he said in Spanish, “when I turned on the television, it was confirmed.”

The United States had launched a military assault on Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and taken to the United States.

Mendoza teaches Spanish online and lives on the outskirts of Venezuela’s capital city.

He said that hours later, the streets in his neighborhood were deserted and tense.

“And well, just like today, there is no one out and about. Everything is closed. No one is around,” he said.

Mendoza said people are staying informed and finding out what’s happening by getting their news on YouTube. He said they also gets some information from the internet.

They were even able to watch President Trump deliver remarks after the attack.

Mendoza heard Trump say there will be a government run by the United States while the situation stabilizes. And elections will be called again. But Mendoza said new elections aren’t necessary.

He said that opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia were already elected.

In a small town eight hours from Caracas, Marian Garcia says she hasn’t been able to sleep since the attack.

“I have not slept at all,” she said in Spanish.

She was at a street party when suddenly the music was turned off, and everyone was told to go home.

She said that she and her friends don’t take their cellphones when they go out at night because they fear they will be mugged.

“Everyone was confused,” she said. “When I got home, my mother showed me (on her cellphone) what was going on.”

Garcia said her family in Caracas have told her they are safe. But one of her neighbors, a member of the Venezuelan military, was killed.

“There are photos of him,” she said. “We don’t know how he died, but we know he died in that situation,” she added, referring to the attack.

Garcia said life in Venezuela has been difficult for years. Food is expensive — when you can find it. Health care isn’t available. Poverty is widespread.

“I am not going to forgive this government, no. They have caused so much harm to families and young people.”

Garcia said if President Trump is seeking access to the country’s oil, she believes that could be beneficial.

“I think it can be beneficial for both countries,” she said. “Both the United States and Venezuela.”

Metsly Rodriguez had already given up on Venezuela. She has dual citizenship, and six months ago, she moved to Bogatá Colombia. Saturday morning, she was surprised that the U.S. attack happened, but she understood why it did.

“It’s because in Venezuela, we live in a dictatorship,” she said in Spanish.

But now things are going to change.

“It’s a big change,” she said. “It fills me with happiness after so many years of repression— 25 years. But I remain worried—because we just don’t know what can happen next.”