Sleeping with one eye open: Venezuelans still reel from US strikes


By AFP

January 27, 2026


Dozens of people died in the US assault on Caracas and other Venezuelan cities - Copyright AFP ROBERTO SCHMIDT

Andrea TOSTA

Since the January 3 capture of autocrat Nicolas Maduro in a US military raid that killed dozens, Caracas resident “J” has been unable to sleep — one of countless Venezuelans left psychologically scarred by the event.

When she closes her eyes, she relives the wild shaking of her bed, her teenaged son clinging to her in fear, as explosions lit their apartment in an eery yellow glow and neighbors’ screams filled the air.

“I feel insecurity, shame, anger. I feel many things, but mainly I feel fear,” the 50-something woman told AFP in a trembling voice weeks after the strike.

“J” and others who spoke to AFP were too afraid to give their names at a time the state machinery is rounding up anyone perceived to support the US attack.

Venezuela was estimated to have hundreds of political prisoners before the US intervention. And though it has started to release them under pressure from Washington, new arrests of government critics have been reported.

“J” is jumpy, wakes up at the slightest noise at night, and has to take sleeping pills to suppress the fear-inducing memory of the pre-dawn attack on the Fuerte Tiuna military complex, just a stone’s throw from her Caracas apartment.

In a country that has not seen war since the 19th century, the unprecedented US military incursion rattled many.

“People are deeply affected — we could even say they’re experiencing post-traumatic stress. That means they have sleep problems, recurring thoughts, negative thoughts, intense fear,” psychologist Yorelis Acosta told AFP.

“They’re truly in a heightened state of alert that requires specialized care.”



– ‘Have to keep going’ –



US President Donald Trump has warned that further military action remains possible in Venezuela if its interim government does not toe Washington’s line, especially on access to its vast oil resources.

And this worries Venezuelans who never expected to see American bombs dropped on their cities.

“I know another bombing can happen,” said another woman, who called herself “L.”

Since witnessing the aerial attack on Fuerte Tiuna, she has a change of clothes hanging near the front door and an emergency grab bag at the ready with canned food, water, a knife and first aid articles.

“I still need to pack a flashlight and some crackers,” she said, determined that any future strikes won’t “catch me napping.”

“I can’t put my life on hold just to let terror win. I wouldn’t say I don’t feel it, but we have to keep going,” said L, a mother of two.

She said she had no intention of seeking out therapy in a country where mental health treatment is taboo and an unaffordable luxury for many.

After the US incursion, the Venezuelan Psychologists’ Federation extended the hours of its free hotline.

The phones haven’t stopped ringing.

Half of the calls are from people with “symptoms linked to anxiety, panic attacks, callers who are highly agitated and distressed,” said hotline coordinator Paola Hernandez, a psychologist herself.



– ‘We can only pray –



A third woman, who goes by “M,” showed AFP a photo on her mobile phone of an orange and gray plume of smoke rises from Fuerte Tiuna.

Then she deleted it.

“I can’t be walking around with that,” she said. “Imagine if they find it on me in the street.”

NGOs including Espacio Publico have reported a trend of warrantless cellphone searches at police checkpoints in Caracas and elsewhere.

Officers comb through phones for words such as “bombing,” “Trump” or “Maduro” on messaging platforms, and check people’s photo galleries.

For her part, “J” says she is equally scared at home or out on the street.

“We can only pray they don’t put us in the same situation again,” she said.

“All we have is the here and now.”

US sued over deadly missile strikes on alleged drug boats


By AFP
January 27, 2026


US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have defended the US military strikes on alleged drug boats 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES/AFP CHIP SOMODEVILLA

Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed last year in a US military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against the US government.

It is the first such case to be brought against the Trump administration over the three dozen missile strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which have left at least 125 people dead since September.

The suit, filed in a federal court in Massachusetts, is being brought by the families of Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, who were among six people killed in an October 14 strike in the Caribbean.

President Donald Trump alleged at the time that “six male narcoterrorists” were killed in a boat allegedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States.

Washington has yet to release any evidence supporting its claims that the targeted boats have links to drug cartels designated by Trump as terrorist organizations.

“The United States’ unlawful killings of persons at sea including Mr Joseph and Mr Samaroo constitute wrongful deaths and extrajudicial killings,” the complaint says. “These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification.

“Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command.”

The case is being brought under the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows for redress for wrongful deaths at sea, and the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreigners to file suit in US courts for rights violations.

Plaintiffs in the case are Lenore Burnley, Joseph’s mother, and Sallycar Korasingh, Samaroo’s sister, and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

The family members are seeking punitive damages, the amount of which would be determined at trial.

“These are lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theater,” CCR legal director Baher Azmy said.

The suit is “a critical step in ensuring accountability, while the individuals responsible may ultimately be answerable criminally for murder and war crimes,” Azmy added.

– ‘Must be held accountable’ –

In a statement, Korasingh said her brother, who had spent 15 years in prison for participation in a homicide, “was a hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”

“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him,” she said.

According to the complaint, neither man was affiliated with drug cartels and they were simply hitching a ride back to Trinidad from Venezuela, where they had been engaged in fishing and farm work.

In December, the family of a Colombian man killed in another strike lodged a complaint with the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The family of Alejandro Carranza Medina, 42, who was killed on September 15, rejected assertions there were drugs on his vessel and said he was a fisherman doing his job on the open sea.

The complaint accuses the United States of violating Carranza’s right to life and to due process.

The IACHR is a quasi-judicial body of the Organization of American States, created to promote and protect human rights in the region.