CARACAS: When explosions boomed in the night and US warplanes roared in the sky over Caracas, Jorge Suarez and his companions rushed fearfully for their guns.<\/p>\n
For these members of the \u201ccolectivos\u201d \u2014 armed loyalists of the leftist leadership \u2014 the US raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro as their president was the most dramatic challenge yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not used to it \u2014 it was like a best-seller, like something out of a movie,\u201d said Suarez, in black sunglasses and a cap bearing the slogan: \u201cDoubt is treason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took to the streets, waiting for instructions from our leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
As proud defenders of the Venezuelan leadership\u2019s socialist \u201cBolivarian revolution,\u201d the ousting of Maduro has left them furious and bewildered, convinced that he was betrayed by close allies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is frustration, anger and a will to fight,\u201d said a 43-year-old member of one collective the Boina Roja \u2014 which translates to Red Beret \u2014 who identified himself only as Willians, in a black cap and hooded jacket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still not really clear what happened…What is clear is that there were many betrayals,\u201d he added \u2014 pointing to implausible failures in Maduro\u2019s defenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t understand how the anti-aircraft system failed. We don\u2019t know what happened with the rocket-launch system.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Policing the transition –<\/p>\n
Established in their current form under Maduro\u2019s predecessor Hugo Chavez, the colectivos are tasked with keeping social order on the streets \u2014 but accused by opponents of beating and intimidating rivals.<\/p>\n
They have closed ranks behind Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro\u2019s former deputy who took over as interim president.<\/p>\n
She has pledged to cooperate with US President Donald Trump over his demand for access to Venezuela\u2019s huge oil reserves \u2014 but has insisted the country is not \u201csubordinate\u201d to Washington.<\/p>\n
Willians said the colectivos were resisting certain post-Maduro narratives, which he dismissed as mind games \u2014 such as \u201cthat Trump might bomb again, or that Delcy Rodriguez is with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
They respect her ideological pedigree \u2014 Rodriguez is the daughter of a far-left militant who died in the custody of the intelligence services in 1976.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone would betray her father,\u201d said Alfredo Canchica, leader of another collective, the Fundacion 3 Ra\u00edces.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can betray the people, but not your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colectivo members declined to be drawn out on how the post-Maduro phase might play out under Trump and Rodriguez, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t believe the threats that the Americans are going to come, dig in and take us out,\u201d said Canchica.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll have to kill us first.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Maduro \u2018betrayed\u2019 –<\/p>\n
Feared by opponents as a rifle-wielding, motorbike-mounted shock force, the colectivos are welcomed in some neighborhoods where they are credited with preventing crime \u2014 and where authorities hand out subsidized food parcels.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Chato Candela baseball stadium in the working-class 23 de Enero district, Canchica rejected the negative image they have gained.<\/p>\n
When opposition demonstrators and some world powers were accusing Maduro of stealing an election in July 2014, \u201cwe stopped the shantytowns from rising up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The colectivos also claim to run sports programs, coordinate with hospitals and transport networks, and visit traders to keep price speculation in check.<\/p>\n
Fiercely committed to the \u201cChavista\u201d cause, they felt the sting of betrayal in Maduro\u2019s capture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe betrayal must have come from someone very close to our commander\u201d Maduro, said Canchica.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so perfect we didn\u2019t notice, and we still don\u2019t know who betrayed us, how they betrayed us \u2014 it happened so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his office with images of independence hero Simon Bolivar, Chavez and Maduro on the wall, and books, bullets and a sound-wave bomb on the table, Suarez bitterly recalled watching animated reconstructions of Maduro\u2019s capture published online.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes you angry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite all the support Commander (Vladimir) Putin, China and North Korea have given us militarily, how can we react in real time when (the US) has more advanced technology than we do?\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CARACAS: When explosions boomed in the night and US warplanes roared in the sky over Caracas, Jorge Suarez and his companions rushed fearfully for their guns. For these members of the \u201ccolectivos\u201d \u2014 armed loyalists of the leftist leadership \u2014 the US raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro as their president was the most dramatic challenge …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":92091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92092,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92080\/revisions\/92092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}