Armed militias deployed in Venezuela as regime attempts to impose authority [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Venezuela’s rulers have deployed armed militias to patrol streets, operate checkpoints and check people’s phones in a crackdown to consolidate authority after the US attack on Caracas.
Paramilitary groups known as colectivos criss-crossed the capital with motorbikes and assault rifles on Tuesday in a show of force to stifle any dissent or perception of a power vacuum.
The patrols stopped and searched cars and demanded access to people’s phones to check their contacts, messages and social media posts in a stark demonstration to the population that the regime remained in charge despite the abduction of president Nicolás Maduro...
Gunfire erupted on Monday night when security forces shot at unauthorised drones which reportedly were mistaken for another US operation. “There was no confrontation, the entire country remains completely calm,” Simon Arrechider, the deputy information minister, told reporters.
But it is a tense calm.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/07/caracas-venezuela-paramilitary-groups
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