A veteran reporter with extensive contacts in Venezuela said the situation on the ground since the U.S. invasion has quickly spiraled out of control.
Armed paramilitary groups aligned with the government are cracking down on journalists under a state of emergency declared Monday, forbidding Venezuelans from showing support for the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro as his former deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, the country's new leader, consolidates control, reported Financial Times.
"Things don’t look great in Venezuela and for Venezuelans," posted New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, linking to the FT report.
"Speaking to people I know inside Venezuela and they tell me armed gangs (basically paramilitary gangs allied to the government) are roaming the streets, arrests of journalists are taking place, and the new/old government is undergoing a wave of repression," Garcia-Navarro added. "Is this what the US means by being in control?"
The state of emergency decree directs authorities to “immediately undertake the search for and arrest . . . of any person involved in the promotion of or support for the armed attack by the U.S. against the territory of the republic," and a human-rights activist in Caracas told FT the repression had significantly escalated two days after the surprise raid.
"[Authorities are] going through people’s phones to see if they had anything that could be construed as support for the actions of the U.S.," that activist said.