Hoarding, Inflation and Fear: Venezuela Plunges into Uncertainty After U.S. Raid
By Hou Wuting
At 1:50 a.m. on Jan. 3, just days into the new year, Zhang Tian was jolted from sleep by a massive explosion shaking his apartment in the El Paraíso district of western Caracas.
“Because it was right after New Year’s Day, I thought someone was setting off firecrackers,” Zhang, a Chinese national living in the capital, told Caixin. But the windows of his low-floor apartment began to vibrate violently. His first instinct was grim: “It’s bad. It might be the U.S.”
His intuition proved correct. In the early hours of Saturday, U.S. forces launched airstrikes against military and civilian targets in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. Shortly after, news broke that Nicolas Maduro, who had ruled the nation for nearly 13 years, had been seized by U.S. forces and transported to the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima.
For residents across Venezuela, the following 48 hours have been marked by confusion, fear and rapid economic shocks.
Chen Juan, a Chinese resident in Valencia, a city two hours west of the capital, was woken by family members around 4 a.m. He immediately began scrolling through social media, confirming the leadership decapitation that has thrown the oil-rich nation into uncharted political territory.
Zhang, an expatriate employee for a Chinese company, has shuttled between China and Caracas since March 2023. Due to security concerns, his company had housed staff in a hotel managed by the Venezuelan military, located near other troop garrisons.
Following the blast, Zhang discovered the power was out. Outside his window, total darkness blanketed the city. In the hotel lobby, Venezuelan soldiers were already gathered. “The Americans bombed,” he heard them say.
Photos taken by Zhang show smoke rising from two locations at a nearby military base. Soldiers on duty urged him to stay inside the lobby for safety. By 2 a.m., residents had counted four or five distinct explosions. Panic began to set in among the hotel guests, some of whom had packed suitcases and were weeping in the lobby.
The hotel sits across a highway from the Cuartel de la Montaña 4F, the hilltop military museum where Hugo Chavez directed his failed 1992 coup and where his remains now rest. Around 2:30 a.m., Zhang witnessed a strike on this location — the final explosion of the night. The target is widely viewed as the spiritual center of Chavismo, giving the strike profound ideological symbolism.
In the aftermath, residents remained indoors, heeding warnings from the Chinese Embassy and local word-of-mouth. The streets of Caracas emptied, save for the occasional armored vehicle.
By Monday, the economic impact was already being felt. Locals told Zhang that long lines had formed outside supermarkets and grocery stores across the capital as people rushed to hoard grain, oil and other essentials. Similar scenes were reported in Barquisimeto and Valencia.
Prices have spiked instantaneously. Zhang noted that before the attack, the local price of cheese was $6 per kilogram. By Sunday, it had jumped to $9 — a 50% increase in two days.
Inside the military-run hotel, the atmosphere among the soldiers was one of disciplined resignation. Troops gathered to watch official broadcasts and conducted equipment maintenance and limited cavalry drills at night. However, the uncertainty was palpable. One officer told Zhang that under the current circumstances, “We can only trust in God, and leave it to fate” (Que Dios quiere).
Civilians expressed deeper anxiety. A cleaning staff member at the hotel told Zhang she was terrified of a return to the economic devastation of previous years, characterized by hyperinflation and shortages. In 2018, Venezuela’s inflation rate hit an estimated 130,000%.
Chinese businesses operating in the country are already moving to evacuate personnel. Zhang’s company, which had been constructing a pharmaceutical plant, has begun sending staff back to China via a third country — currently the primary transit point for those leaving the region. The company has paused its projects, waiting to see if stability returns.
While some flee, members of the Venezuelan diaspora are watching closely. Nearly 8 million people have left the country since 2013.
Marcos Colombo, a Venezuelan living in Argentina since 2017, told Caixin that the future depends entirely on the transition process. It remains unclear who will steer the government or if the country will slide into violence.
“I don’t know if I can return home soon,” Colombo said. “But I always pin my hopes on the moment I can return to my native land.”
Zhang Tian and Chen Juan are pseudonyms.
caixinglobal.com is the English-language online news portal of Chinese financial and business news media group Caixin. Global Neighbours is authorized to reprint this article.
Image: rarrarorro – stock.adobe.com