‘We’re waiting for something better to come’: Venezuelans face their country’s future

Carlos Pérez said residents in his Venezuelan town of San Cristóbal, near the border with Colombia, are still trying to lead normal lives, despite the uncertainty now enveloping the country following a U.S. military strike this weekend.

Pérez, 66, said Venezuelans have become accustomed to living with adversity and that his family, friends and neighbors were now preparing for what comes next.

He said most people he knows are staying close to home for now.

“We are waiting, like all Venezuelans,” said Pérez, who was crossing the Simón Bolívar international bridge on foot from the western Venezuelan state of Táchira into Colombia.

San Cristóbal is about 40 kilometers east of the bridge that has become one of the main crossing points for a mass exodus of Venezuelans seeking to flee a country gripped by an economic crisis and an authoritarian regime led by Nicolas Maduro.

Following the US military operation, the Colombian army had stationed soldiers and tanks at the foot of the bridge in anticipation of an expected influx of Venezuelans. However, there was no increase in the number of level crossings and return traffic remained at normal levels.

Maduro was captured by the United States early Saturday morning in a military strike against Venezuela involving 150 aircraft and 200 special forces troops.

Maduro and his wife, Cils Flores, pleaded not guilty during their first appearance in a US federal court in New York on Monday. They both face charges related to narcoterrorism, cocaine and weapons.

“Something had to be done”

“Something had to be done, and it was done,” said Escolastica Rodríguez, 72. “We’re waiting for something better to come along.”

Rodríguez is from Valencia, a city located about 167 kilometers east of the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Rodríguez was walking with Pérez on a day trip to the bridge, located about 843 kilometers southwest of Caracas.

Venezuelans began leaving the country en masse in 2015 due to the collapsing economy and increased repression under Maduro, who took over Venezuela’s presidency after the death of Hugo Chávez Frías in 2013.

Maduro retained the presidential post through elections widely criticized as fraudulent.

At one point between 2018 and 2019, tens of thousands of Venezuelans crossed the Simón Bolívar International Bridge every day. More than seven million Venezuelans have left the country in just over a decade, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Neyla Duarte, 43, is one of these people, who left for Colombia 11 years ago. She said the U.S. military operation had given Venezuela hope she believed was long lost.

“A lot of our parents, a lot of people never got to live this moment… We want the Venezuela that we lived with in the past. Right now it’s not there, but we want it,” she said.

“I have great hope that we will see democratic change, which is what we need most in this country.”

Duarte, who one day wants to return to Venezuela permanently, was crossing the bridge between Colombia and Venezuela to accompany his goddaughter, Jelis Mendoza, 20, to renew her Venezuelan identity card.

The Trump administration launched its attack on Venezuela and captured Maduro after months of pressure by building up its military in the Caribbean and launching several missile strikes — of questionable legality, according to some legal experts — on boats allegedly carrying cocaine from Venezuela.

I hope to come back one day

Mendoza said her parents took her to live in Chile seven years ago to give her a better future. When she first heard about the attack on Saturday, she was initially worried about her family still in the country.

“But fortunately, everyone was safe and happy… It was necessary, and it was something that Venezuela needed to get out of the situation it found itself in,” she said.

“Right now it’s too difficult [to return to Venezuela]because he still lacks a lot of things to get out of the situation he finds himself in, but I hope that in the future, yes [I want to return]because it’s our country and we always want to go back.”

A feeling of calm, of challenge

The Venezuelan government has tried to project a sense of calm and stability with a touch of defiance.

On Monday, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president. The government announced the creation of a new special commission tasked with “liberating” Maduro and Flores from the hands of the United States.

In a statement released Sunday and posted on social media, Rodríguez called on U.S. President Donald Trump to “collaborate…on an agenda of cooperation.” The statement said Venezuela has “the right to peace, development, sovereignty and a future.”

Trump said the United States was currently “in control” of Venezuela. He threatened to launch a new round of attacks if the country refused his demands, including opening its vast nationalized oil reserves to American oil companies.

Gerson Alvarado, 73, who lives in San Antonio de Tachira, in the western state of Tachira, said he was worried about who was currently in charge of the country: Rodríguez, the Venezuelan army or the United States.

Alvarado, a retired history teacher who was crossing the border with one of his grandchildren who wanted to go shopping in Cúcuta, Colombia, said he hoped Trump would treat Venezuela with “a lot of caution” as the situation on the ground remained potentially volatile.

“We don’t want a civil war between Venezuelans.”