The Morning Caracas Fell
The explosions began before dawn. Residents of eastern Caracas counted at least seven detonations, each a dull thump that rattled windows and sent flocks of parrots screaming from the jacaranda trees . Low-flying aircraft — the kind that arrive without warning and leave no room for negotiation — swept over the Miraflores Palace district. Within hours, Venezuelan army units had deployed to block every entrance to the presidential residence, establishing hasty checkpoints with sandbags and armoured personnel carriers . But they were sealing an empty building. Nicolás Maduro, who had governed Venezuela for more than a decade through economic collapse, international isolation, and mounting accusations of narco-state criminality, was already gone.