Some 3,200 kilometers now separate the Venezuelans from Nicolas Maduro, their kidnapped president, whom American special forces flew to New York.
But Mario, a Caracas resident, fears publicly celebrating the ouster of a leader who oversaw a government apparatus that, for many Venezuelans, has become synonymous with repression.
Maduro’s government remains virtually intact after his vice president Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in – with the blessing of US President Donald Trump – as interim president on Monday. His history within Maduro’s establishment worries many Venezuelans; deleting texts, avoiding talking about politics in public and self-censoring on social media, according to people interviewed by Al Jazeera.
Since the US attack, Venezuelan police have announced the arrest of at least four people for celebrating Maduro’s capture or mocking the former leader.
“[The police] “We apprehended two citizens of Guaraque who were celebrating the kidnapping of President Maduro,” read a statement from police in the western city of Mérida; “Two arrested for inciting hatred and treason” read another from Carabobo State authorities.
The repression comes after the government on Saturday decreed state of emergency, ordering security forces to “immediately begin searching for and capturing… any person involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack on the United States of America” and prosecuting them.
Screenshots of the decree have circulated on social media, contributing to what some residents see as a chilling effect.
“The fear is that they will imprison you unjustly, prosecute you and accuse you of whatever they want to accuse you of and send you to prison,” Mario said in a telephone interview from Caracas with Al Jazeera.
He said he no longer uses main roads to avoid security checks and clashes with government-aligned paramilitary groups called colectivos. He also does not post anything about US attacks on social media and has said he removes any videos that could be seen as provocative by the government.
“It’s not a good sign.”
As vice president, Rodriguez took control of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) in 2018, during one of the most repressive periods of the Maduro regime.
“I think she’s more pragmatic [than Maduro]” Laura Cristina Dib, Venezuela director at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told Al Jazeera, “but that doesn’t mean she’s not also part of the repressive apparatus. “
The UN has accused SEBIN of torturing dozens of opposition politicians, journalists and activists, including inside the notorious El Helicoide detention center in Caracas.
On Tuesday, Rodriguez named former SEBIN director Gustavo Enrique Gonzalez Lopez as head of the General Directorate of Military Counterespionage (DGCIM), also accused of human rights violations by the UN.
“It’s not a good sign,” Dib said, adding that Gonzalez Lopez was one of the first Venezuelan officials to be named. sanctioned during the Obama administration and he continued the policy of torture at El Helicoide as director of SEBIN.
He also helped oversee Operation People’s Liberation (PLO), a years-long operation that stamped out dissent through abuses and extrajudicial killings, leading to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people, mostly in poor neighborhoods.
Gonzalez Lopez’s latest appointment, Dib said, “is not a step in the right direction.”
“Shock factor”
Nearly a year and a half after the 2024 elections, in which Maduro cracked down on protests against his fraudulent election, Carlos Lusverti, an investigator at the Center for Human Rights at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas, believes these repressive measures remain on the minds of Venezuelans.
“At that time there was a general wave of arrests and repression that I think raised awareness among the population to silence any expression that could be understood as criticism of the government,” Lusverti told Al Jazeera.
He said the “shock factor” caused by recent U.S. bombings only adds to the paranoia, and some Venezuelans fear the current government will revert to its old tactics.
“It’s terrifying that you can be arrested just for having a meme [about Maduro] on your phone,” Viviana, a 31-year-old flower seller in Caracas, told Al Jazeera. “That’s the fear that exists today, and that’s why people avoid saying anything or making comments in the street.”
