The Illusion of a New Dawn

This is the Guardian today Four months on for Maduro's abduction What next for Venezuela For investors at the highest level of sophistication, those with strong advisory support, the natural outcome is two distinct portfolios. onene public, one private. Each plays a different role in the overall strategy. Uncover new investment opportunities for you at creativeplanning dot com slash new The last time I flew out of Venezuela was right at the start of august twenty twenty four just after the disputed presidential election Tom Phillips is the Guardian's Latin America correspondent And it was a moment of real turmoil. There was a huge wave of repression that was unfolding as Nicholas Maduro tried to silence any kind of dissent his bogus claim to have won that election. Thousands were thrown in prison, many were going underground and journalists were racing to get out of the country. I flew out to Portugal of all places. or one of the last flights available And we all flew out thinking what on eararth is coming next? H a rain. And then Nearly two years later, when I come back, the reception could not have been more different Now, four months on from the dramatic abduction of Nicolas Maduro by US Special Forces, Tom has returned to the country landed, stood in a very short queue, showed them my visa, breezed through immigration, and couldn't quite believe that for the first time in years, it felt like I was entering a normal country after Maduro's capture Donald Trump promised Venezuelans an end to tyranny and a bright new future But with Maduro's second in command, Delcine Rodriguez still in charge American oil tycoons rushing in. and no elections in sight Will Venezuelans get real change Is it just an illusion Ordinary Venezuelans feel a sense of optimism But I think alongside this optimism There is also real. anxiety trepidation about what comes next, and it's striking how so many of the interviews I did whilst I was there tears ters of nervousness about what comes next that they are not yet fully convinced that they've escaped From the Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly today in focus Who is really profiting from Venezuela's bright new future Tom Phillips, you are the Guardiian at Latin America correspondent and you have just returned from a two week trip to Venezuela I think it's the first time international media have been let back in after the U S. audacious capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January So first, what was it like being back Well, it was wonderful being back because Venezuela is a country that is very close to my heart and a wonderful place to be despite all of the agony that it has suffered over the past few years particularly since Mel claimed to power in twenty thirteen So it was uplifting in some sense to see political activism taking place again, people coming out of hiding, hundreds of political prisoners being released So very uplifting in very many ways and yet at the same time, troubling because I don't think it's clear to anyone How long these changes? are going to be here for it It it's kind of So much has happened since January, hasn't it? in terms of kind of world events that it's probably worth just quickly reminding us of the events of the past few years since your last visit in twenty twenty four, when Maduro was very firmly in control. Can you just give us a quick timeline of how everything played out for Venezuela since then On the twenty eighth of july twenty twenty four, there was a presidential election, which Maduru is widely believed to have lost by a landslide And on the night of that election many opposition activists were out on the streets celebrating because they thought that finally he was finished Conelvoto de Puuelo Gano. Maduro had other ideas. Kingano Heo be b b clung to power, unleashed this massive wave of repression, thousandousands of people were thrown in jail and effectively snuffed out any kind of street activism, political activism against his regime After that last year we saw Donald Trump launch a massive pressure campaign with a huge military build upp in the Caribbean, basasically saying to my daught, you know, you're finished He accused him of being a narco terrorist. He started bombing boats in the Caribbean And that culminated on an extraordinary military attack on Venezuela's northern coast and the capital Caracas in the early hours of the third of January. Caracas Overwhelming American military power air llandency was used to launch A spectacular assault to bring outlaw dictator Nicholas Maduro to justice. in which special forces swooped in to the Fuertuna military base where Maduro was pulled up, grabbed him and flew him back to the US where he is now in custody Gassus I mean, it's important to remember that there were civilians who really were on the frontline of that attack, afterwards really pred by Donald Trump as being this amazing kind of audacious military campaign where no American was killed. Could you tell us what were some of the people that you met? What was their experience of that extraordinary night So one of the first places I visited was a housing estate on the Caribbean coast in a place called Catia Lamar. and we visited a housing estate that had been bombed by US troops in the early hours of that morning. One man Anhel Linardes who we met, he's a firefighter and he's seen a lot in his more than twenty years as a firefighter He woke up at about two AM to this strange whizzing sound and then an explosion. Neighbourors thought a coup was underway, gunfire started breaking out. He thought it was people celebrating the newew Year with fireworks but pretty quickly realized something more serious was underway when the whole front of his building was ripped off And he said about saving his mum and his neighbourors and one elderly neighbor who subsequently died who had Alzheimer's and was about eighteen And Anhel's mum showed us Four months later Oh wow. that she had turned her shopping trolley into an emergency grab bag filled with her medicine and her clothes. H receipa is her name. She is ready and she eighty five years old will jump out of bed, pick up her bag and take cover out in the streets in case any more American missiles bring down Thank give it. It's sort of a quaint little beach resort about an hour's drive north of Calakas. It's a very peaceful scene. There's lovely Venezuela music playing in the background, the waves are laughing up against the shore and it's just incredible. you think that four months ago there was this highly trained assault team sweeping in through the skies and opening fire on air defensces and buildings in the communities around us here and now Life appears to have gone back to normal and the only sign that you see of Maduro, who of course, is now in custody in the US are the street corner dust pins which have been branded with his propaganda. It says super moustache, a reference to Maduro's whiskers painted onto the side. and apart from that No sign of him whatsoever After Maduro was whisked off to the US in chains Donald Trump, you know, he promised the Venezuelan people this new dawn, you know, an end to tyranny Just how bad had things got for people under Maduro by the end? I've spent the last eight years covering the humanitarian and political crisis in Venezuela. and it is It's very hard to put into words just how bad and how Distressing It has been for the people at the eye of the storm I've attended the funeral of a three month old baby who died of malnutrition because the healthcare system had collapsed. I have watched thousands and thousands, thousands of Venezuelans flee through the borders into Ecuador and Brazil, you know, old ladies, young men with holes in their shoes and not a penny in their pockets They don't have water in their homes. I met another woman on this trip and she said to me, and my jaw dropped. She said, We have not had a drop of running water in my house in twenty one years twenty one years. It is unimaginable and just that you know the trauma is just constantly present I don't know, seven out of ten interviews that I do end in tears and it is heartbreaking. and sometimes it is very hard to hold back the tears yourself And so, you know, Maduro made things really, really hard for people in Venezuela. But what about the people that have been left in charge How are they running the country Now So there seems to be a quiet but quite concerted campaign now to airbrush Maduro out of Venezuelan history And I suspect that deep down, many of his Allies or perhaps former allies, the people now running the show are frankly glad to see the back of him to see the back of someone who had become cartoon book Dictator That's not to say though, that they are necessarily keen on moving the country towards democracy because since his So And in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to recognize members of his party government is now led by his former Vice President Els Rodriguez We've seen a lot said about the first two stages of Donald Trump's roadmap for Venezuela political and social stabilization, economic recovery and then political transition. We've heard a lot said about the first two phases, but very little said about the third There is no sense that we are moving towards a genuine democratic transition The political transition that many Venezuelans had expected on january the third when they woke up to that stunning news that Maduru was gone. and that while they had expected the opposition leader and no Bel laureate Mariaolina Machadu to be able to come back to the country her movement having won the twenty twenty four election and take power. that has not come to pass And in fact It was mother withvice power with Trump's blessing after he was gone Rodriguez and her allies have also made it quite clear that they are not pushing for fresh elections anytime soon The acting president was pushed by a New York Times reporter recently to say when there might be fresh elections, and she responded, Oh sometime Right But that is not to say that there has not been a significant albeit sort of very ephemeral political opening which has allowed people to go out onto the streets and express themselves amootim of S One of the first places I visited was a beautiful former shopping center that had been turned into a torture center in political prison over the last few years. and we went to see something which would have been absolutely unimaginable just a few months ago, a protest involving hundreds of people who had parked themselves on the pavement under the gaze of the police and were placing candles On the street corner to remember the political prisoners who were still inside and were writing the names in chalk. on the sidewalk. Some of those the names included a sixteen year old girl. thoseose are the people that are still inside. But a few months ago, it would have been impossible for these people to be there without being arrested. There were police watching them taking their photographs, but they were allowed to gather. They closed the road, they sang the National anthem, they called for freedom. and I was able to speak to some of The family is there about the people still behind bars . You know, do they have any hope of getting their children out W they more hopeful that they might see their children released There is hope in the sense that they are now able to sit there or stand there and to raise their voices and to talk to the international journalists who have now been allowed into the country about the plight of their loved ones. But I think there's also despair. I mean, we watched ambulances coming in and out of this one prison at nightt time. And I think every time the ambulance comes into the prison, they think, my goodness Has something happened to my son or my partner And a few days after that visit, we discovered that a political prisoner in the very same prison died under very mysterious circumstances. a year earlier and only now where authorities Oing up to the fact that this person whose mother, elderly mother has been looking for him all over had died within that detention centre. Soking you know, yes, there is hope, but there is also despair and people are asking you know Why have these people not being released yet? And what will it take for them to be freed How many have been released since January About seven hundred political prisoners now have been released and about five hundred are thought to still be behind bars in different parts of the country, some as young as sixteen But yeah, of course there is absolutely hope. I mean, I met an activist called Hesus Ardemas who studied in the UK for a period before coming back to Venezuela to join the political f was part of the twenty twenty four election campaign and part of Mariquina Machichilda's movement He was snatched from a cafe after the election taken to an underground jail she had had a bag put over his head with secret police trying to get information on each other's movement and what their next plans were. and then vanished inside E Eie Coyd only to be released after M der was gone. So yeah, I mean, it was it was very uplifting to sit down with him in a park. and to talk about Venezuela's political future. Anyway, thank you for coming. thank you for ming. So I'm back here for the first time in two years trying to understand what is going on. I also want to understand what is going on in Venezuela because right now everything is so confusing. Of course, january third happen. Of course we are really glad Venezuela are really glad because We saw that the dictator is right now in jail. Nicolasmaruro is a human rights violator. He's a criminal. So to see justice, it's really important for us. but the thing is that his regime is still in power because Deli Roduez was here are number two So it's kind of confusing. We are happy also because we see many political prisoners outside of the jail right now, including myself, but we are also very worried because we still got more than five hundred political prisoners in different detention centers all around the country. We need a change. we need a electoral calendar to bring back democracy to Venezuela because right now we are still under an dictatorial or authoritarian regime in the country What do you think like the opening? yeah, like the political opening So like you being here because you were released in prison, me being here because I've been finally given a visa for the first time in two years Is that real? O is it The facade Yeah, actually, this feels sometimes like an illusion, you know? Because of course I'm free and I feel great for that withithout any doubt. noody wants to be in prison. but I still got friends imprisoned. you know, political activists are in prrisoned, innocent people are imprisoned. So this is not freedom. this is not the transition right now. The majority of time I have members of the intelligence police of Nicolas Maahuro following me. Exactly Dod Exactly. So when I saw that, I knew, okay, this is not a transition. We still need to fight It's a very strange moment. Re strange, really weird. Path to democracy is very much contingent on this very slightly surreal relationship now between the people who are in charge of Venezuela and Donald Trump and his administration Really curious to know what the people that you interview, how they felt about Donald Trump and the US A lot of people and you have to remember that Madura lost the twenty twenty four election by something like seventy percent peopleople Broadly speaking, despised him and wanted him gone So yeah, many many Venezuelans are absolutely overjoyed and very grateful, frankly to Trump for taking him even if quietly they will say to you off the record, yeah, of course we know that this was completely leillgal and sets a terrible precedent and we don't frankly trust Donald Trump and we know he's only interested in Venezuela because of its massive oil reserves and natural resources The Americans' focus so far has been on phase one of their three step plan stabilization stabilization means has meant them leaving in place bulk of Muda's regime In order apparently to control the security forces and the military who don't much like much other Yeah, and I guess You know it's interesting as well how tenuous their grip on power might be if they do anything to upset Trump or they don't allow him to fulfill his ambitions, which he's been very open about in terms of getting his his mits on Venezuela's oil Did you see any evidence of D that kind of lust for Venezuela's oil to be spirited away to the U.S, you know, is that happening already Yeah, I mean, absolutely, Venezuelan oil is now going to the U.S. It is able to sell it. It has been selling huge hugeount of Venezelan oil and you know, I saw scenes that Frankly, I had to pinch myself to believe that it was really happening on my first day there. I drove down to the airport and the whole airport was decked out in red, white, and blue balloons, symbolizing the American flag. and the airport was full of American officials waiting for the first direct flight from the US in more than seven years to arrive And I'd certainly never thought I would hear New York, New York and Hotel California playing in that airport And yet there there they were and there were Venezuelan diplomats saying Oh, you're very welcome here. We're thrilled to have you here to the journalists. The U. SS. officials came in theirir message was basically drill baby drill. We're here and this is a wonderful new era Under President Trump's leadership, the United States remains fully committed to Venezuela's economic recovery. Today, the results speak for themselves. Direct flights are back. commomerce is flowing. Venezuela's economic engine is ramping up, and we're just getting started. Thank you very much It must be so surreal. It was absolutely surreal And then a few days later I went to the Marriott Hotel in Caracas, which has become the nerve center of the US. It's basically the de facto US emmbassy in Caracas now. And it is absolutely filled with a mixure of US diplomats, officials, spies, marines, you go down to breakfast and there are these sort of barely tattooed guys sitting around on tables with walkie talkies on their hips and you hear you know the lingua Francca in the hotel is English, not Spanish. and you listen to some of the conversations and it is Americans talking about what they are going to do with the future of Venezuela Yeah. I mean it sounds like something have a movie or something A abbsolutely, and who could have imagin it? And there's another nearby hotel where rooms are even more expensive. And I've spoken to people who've been there and they say that they are seeing foreign billionaires arrive. sort of people who won't give you their surnames, they won't give you their business card, but they obviously absolutely stinking rich. and they have come to Venezuela because they are interested in the opening of its mining sector privatizations and this new this economic opening that is obviously underway under bizarre sort of joint presidency between Delsea and Donald Trump And considering the kind of quagma he's got himself into in Iran Do you think that there's a sense that he kind of needs you know, his project Venezuela to work out Absolutely. I think from his point of view, there's a real sense among people that Donald Trump needs a win, a win, win, win And he wants to you show Venezuela off on the global stage as his big foreign policy success. And that means No violence, no, you know, internal power struggles, no coup, it means U. S and foreign business people being able to come to Caracos and you know develop oil and gas projects, mining projects, make money, money money. without any trouble on the streets. Coming up What will this American win mean for ordinary Venezuelans And I thought, what if Saled businesses I I scaalle my philanthropy. What if I did as much in one year as I've done in my whole life? See how your wealth could have even greater meaning at creativeplanning d. com slash impact. High interest debt is one of the toughest opponents you'll face. Unless you power up with a soi personal loan. A so fI personal loan could repackage your bad debt into one low fixed rate monthly payment It's even got super speed. since you can get the funds as soon as the same day you sign Visit Sfi dot com slash power to learn more That's soF d. com slash pooW ER Moans originated by SfFi Bank NA, member F theIC, terms of Cnditions Supply and MLS six nine six eight niney one this Obviously quite a lot of people expecting to get veryer rich pretty quickly of this new dawn for Venezuela What about Venezuelans themselves? what kind of conditions are they still living in? know haveave they reaped any of the economic benefits yet of Maduro's abduction Yeah, absolutely. I mean, hu huge amounts of money are already being made, and there are wheela dealers and fortune hunters flocking from far and wide into Carakas to make lots of money. But one day, I went through a street protest being organized by a teachers' unions And when you talk to them, you realize that I actually for ordinary people, very little if anything has changed people who are struggling to make ends meet and the teachers who are earning somethinghing like twenty five US cents per fortnight to work in Venezuelan schools which don't have electricity. We visited one school during our trip. We walked into the classroom, saw these lovely enthusiastic teenagers, but they were sitting in the shadows and there were no light bulbs and And I said, what's going on? Why is there no light? And they said, Oh someone Someone stole the cables. So we've not had light in this school in over a year it sounds from everything you've told me that there's this really kind of dizzying disconnect, really between and the government. presenting this kind of glitzy new dawn and a new relationship That is going to pave the way for this beautiful future for the country and the really ongoing terrible hardship that is faced by many Venezuelans with no real solid prospect that that's going to change anytime soon A lot of people spoke of an illusion Other people spoke of a mirage, and it's easy to see why they say that I guess the event that I saw that best captured that illusion was another very surreal moment where one evening, the ruling party called a pop concert at La Clota, which is the big airbase right at the heart of Caracas and it's one of the locations that was bombed on january third as the U.S moved in on Madul very sensitive military location. they decided to hold this kind of weird Glastonbury like Festival. on the runway. So you had five or six stages, all this loud music, you electronic music, sala Merengi. and they were calling it the Festival of peeace. We turned up at about two or three in the afternoon and the event had started at nine AM that morning Lots of music, lots of bands obviously play reportedly receiving rather large amounts of money to play there And the one thing that was lacking was an audience There were And know when we arrived a few hundred people dancing rather unenthusiastically around huge stages when one turned on state TV the following day The event was billed as a resounding success and the images had been shot close up so that you couldn't quite tell how many people it looked like there was this absolute sea of support for the government. but actually if you went there You saw that basically no one turned up Mirage. facade. Pretty telling Thanks for all your reporting on this Thank you dis ppleleasure