Venezuela is torn between the fist of Maduro and the advance of Trump

Like her, many others They could neither leave nor enter, at least not by plane. For the moment, and until last night, JP hopes to cross the border, so she avoids any conversation or information that could compromise her.

Everyone is wary of Venezuela. Agreeing to speak on behalf of this report involves a real and, above all, unnecessary risk. “More than one was arrested for talking nonsense on the phone,” says a Caracas businessman. He prefers not to give details. He limits himself to explaining that the tensions resulting from the Trump siege triggered the parallel exchange rate.

Average purchasing power is collapsing, Christmas is an understatement and Nicolas Maduro he alternates his anti-imperialist discourse with an aggravation of state violence against citizens. Anyone can betray the country. People try to live their lives without getting into trouble.

Fear and uncertainty

In November 2025 – after two months of naval attacks on boats associated with drug trafficking off the coast of Venezuela – Donald Trump declared that the airspace above and around the country should be considered “completely closed”a measure presented as a safety warning.

The government of Nicolas Maduro reacted by denouncing “imperialist threats” and ordered the revocation of the concessions of several airlines. In a few days, Iberia, Air Europa, Avianca, LATAM, TAP Air Portugal and Turkish Airlines They suspended their flights. The country was, once again, isolated.

More than 8,000 passengers were affected in a few days. In Madrid-Barajas, some 350 travelers on a single route were left stranded without any alternative plans and only 30 were transferred to other flights. The 24.7% reduction in the number of international flights has left the country with less air cargo capacity.

Medicines, medical equipment, industrial spare parts and urgent packages enter through these warehouses. Now everything must be diverted to Bogotá, Panama or Sao Paulo, generating delays and cost overruns.

Oscar Murillorepresentative of the human rights organization Provea, summarizes it as follows: “In Venezuela, there is an environment marked by self-censorship. Society doubts what it can say and when it can say it.

Fear is not always explicit, but it is constantly at work. After the US military deployment near Venezuelan territory, the government reactivated known patterns: selective detentions, surveillance of political leaders and surveillance of citizens of foreign origin under vague suspicion. “The government has resumed its anti-imperialist discourse and its national security doctrine. According to this doctrine, criticism is considered a threat,” explains Murillo.

The lack of knowledge of the results of the July 2024 elections constituted a breaking point for the Nicolas Maduro regime. The population, already hit by insufficient wages and deteriorating public services, found itself without effective means of political expression. The protests that followed were contained by repression and arrests.

At the end of 2024, the National Command for the Defense of Democracya body that brings together officials from different organizations and acts with broad powers. Their actions aimed to arrest journalists, human rights defenders and figures linked to María Corina Machado’s entourage.

Media censorship

Added to this climate is media censorship. On October 10, 2025, the news that Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize It was hardly broadcast on radio and television. Among the few voices who mentioned it was Shirley Varnagy, from her program “ShirleyRadio” on Onda La Superestación. He made a brief mention: the Nobel, Machado’s name, minimal context.

The next day, his voice was no longer on the air in its usual time slot. There was no official statement. The station did not provide an explanation. Caution reigns, but also the need for change, as attested by the various organizations working to respect human rights.

“We are currently experiencing a stage in which Venezuelan society has many expectations. “I think it is clear, and the opinion studies we have had access to say it, that the majority desire of the Venezuelan population is political change.” In his diagnosis of the situation, Óscar Murillo insists on describing a popular feeling, the majority desire for political change.

“People don’t want decorative change, they want political change. this brings us to a moment, to a process where a transformation of political realities begins, which also has an impact on the quality and living conditions of Venezuelans, he explains. I think it’s like a basic premise to understand everything that’s happening in Venezuela.

pressure cooker

Data from independent organizations confirms social and political deterioration. Encovi recorded monetary poverty of 94.5% and extreme poverty of 76.6%. The UN counted more than 1,500 hospital deaths due to lack of supplies between 2018 and 2019. The diaspora exceeds 8 million people. Foro Penal has recorded 823 political prisoners as of September 2025 and more than 18,486 political arrests since 2014. Provea has recorded more than 10,000 deaths at the hands of security forces between 2013 and 2023. The UN attributes more than 6,800 extrajudicial executions to the Special Action Forces (FAES) between 2018 and 2019. The situation is deep and is now showing its most visible cracks.

Trump’s role in all this is not new. The offensive policy of the United States against the regime of Nicolas Maduro is the continuation of a line of pressure that began in 2017, when there was talk for the first time of a “military option” and financial sanctions were applied. From then on, institutional deterioration increased.

Security forces increased their presence on streets and residential areas. The 2017 protests resulted in more than 160 deaths and thousands of arrests. The sanctions of 2018 and 2019, added to the oil embargo, hit the economy hard. Alongside economic impoverishment, institutional erosion has appeared.

Under the protection of Nicolas Maduro’s government and official forces, illegal economies have emerged within and around public organizations: fuel smuggling, irregular taxes, movement of goods without customs control, and corruption networks in ports and airports.

Venezuela has become a key stop on the cocaine routes to West Africa and Europe. Its extensive coastline, lack of surveillance and corruption allow the movement of ships without effective control. Added to this is the movement of criminal gangs – satellites of the armed forces and paramilitary groups – towards areas of illegal exploitation such as the Orinoco Mining Arc, where illegal extraction of wealth, laundering and human trafficking take place.

Democratic blackout

After the accusation of narcoterrorism against Maduro, the government increased the combined use of military, police and armed civilian forces for internal control tasks. For 2021, poverty has reached historic levels and large areas of the country were subject to local structures with access to weapons or institutional support.

Unable to mobilize its bases, especially in the poorest corners, the Maduro regime has crossed all limits, even ignoring the victory of the opposition in July 2024. In just two days, 915 demonstrations were recorded in 20 states; 138 were repressed. There were between 24 and 25 people killed by firearms, more than 2,200 arrests and at least 50 short-term enforced disappearances.

In 2025, Provea highlighted the case of lawyer Eduardo Torres, arrested on May 9. For five days, no agency revealed his whereabouts. It was only on May 13 that the prosecution acknowledged his arrest without giving details. still missing. Other cases include Perkins Rocha and Biaggio Pilieriarrested in 2024 and held incommunicado in Sebin (Bolivarian National Intelligence Service). The temporary disappearance of the defender Rocio San Miguel It continues to be cited in international reports.

Foro Penal recorded a total of 807 political prisoners as of July 2025; 44 were missing or incommunicado. Between April and November 2025, they documented between 37 and 59 forced disappearances or prolonged incommunicado detentions.

Venezuela faces a deadly combination: aerial isolation, international tensions, increasing internal repression, structural poverty and fragmented territorial control. As the United States increases its military presence in the Caribbean and the government strengthens its narrative of resistance, daily life becomes reduced to resolving the immediate situation and avoiding unnecessary risks. The uncertainty and total darkness of the democratic blackout reign.