"When Angel Linares heard a strange buzz followed by an explosion, his first thought was that neighbours were setting off fireworks to celebrate the new year. Then his windows shattered, the building's walls shook and its facade was ripped off, sending him flying on to the ground of an apartment suddenly reduced to rubble. His 85-year-old mother, Jesucita, feared Venezuela's northern coast had been devastated by an earthquake, like the one she remembers from 1967."
"Next door, Elizabeth Herrera jumped out of bed in her pyjamas and realised something more sinister was afoot when the post-explosion silence was filled with the sound of gunfire: Tah-tah-tah-tah-tah-po-po-tah-tah-tah. Is it a coup? I don't believe Papa Trump' would have dared to invade, Herrera remembers her husband speculating as their housing estate's panicked residents struggled to make sense of the mayhem just before 2am on 3 January."
"Their community found itself at the eye of the storm as air-to-surface missiles rained down on defence and radar systems and radars along the country's Caribbean coast and helicopter-borne Delta Force fighters swept south towards the capital. They were 10 minutes that felt like an interminable hour, said Herrera, who lost two elderly neighbours during the attack that was apparently targeting military installations on a nearby hill."
"She recalled her autistic son's anguish as they rushed out into the darkness and sheltered in a nearby school. Mummy, are we the baddies? Are Venezuelan"
A sudden explosion shattered windows and walls in Catia La Mar, reducing an apartment building to rubble and sending residents to the ground. Neighbours initially assumed fireworks for the new year, but the silence after the blast was filled with gunfire. Residents in the Urbanizacion Romulo Gallegos housing project experienced air-to-surface missile strikes targeting defence and radar systems along Venezuela’s Caribbean coast. Helicopter-borne Delta Force fighters moved toward the capital. The attack lasted minutes that felt much longer, with civilians rushing into darkness and sheltering in a nearby school. Two elderly neighbours died, and families described fear and distress during the assault.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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