In Venezuela, Uncertainty Mixes with Normalcy Days After U.S. Strike

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0:17Today on State of the World, a view on Venezuela from the border with Colombia, where uncertainty and normalcy mix just days after a U.S. strike.

0:31You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, December 6th. I'm Christine Arismath. In Venezuela, it's been a whirlwind the last few days. The U.S. seized President Nicolas Maduro in an audacious military operation. Maduro's now pleaded not guilty in federal court in New York, and Venezuela has a new interim president. At the same time, gunfire erupted near the presidential palace in Caracas last night, raising fears of a power struggle. NPR's Eder Peralta is in the city of Cucuta in Colombia, just on the border with Venezuela.

1:12He spoke to NPR's Juana Summers on All Things Considered. Hey, so tell us what you're hearing and seeing there. So, you know, we've made it within eyesight of Venezuela, but we have not gotten permission to go in as journalists. You know, we've still been talking to people who are coming in and out of Venezuela. Let's listen to what we've heard. At the bridge that leads to Venezuela from Colombia, there's a whole lot of normal. Buses and motorcycles buzz across the frontier. The only hint that something is wrong are the Colombian soldiers in armored vehicles flanking one side of the bridge. Colombia militarized the border in case there was an exodus from Venezuela.

1:52Richard, a 52-year-old Venezuelan, sells plantain chips on the bridge. Like others in the story, we're only using his first name because he fears retribution from the Venezuelan government. He says on the Venezuelan side, life goes on, but there is an air of uncertainty. Nothing is clear yet, he says. All they have is questions. What if the U.S. launches a second strike? Can Venezuela's new acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, hang on to power? Richard shrugs. This isn't even a Venezuelan problem, he says. It's an oil problem.

2:30I think if Venezuela didn't have oil, we wouldn't be going through all of this.

2:39We meet Eduardo Espinel at his sprawling Venezuelan restaurant in the middle of town. Espinel organized a celebration the night after Maduro was ousted. I ask how he's feeling now. Very happy, he says. The worst thing Maduro did, he says, was split up families. Millions of Venezuelans fled repression and economic hardship. His own brother died in Trinidad, unable to receive cancer treatment. So he's thankful to the U.S., he says, for bringing Maduro to justice. Without the U.S., we wouldn't even have a possibility of freedom. Yes, he says, the same people are in charge. Yes, there is still a long road ahead.

3:23But he views this as a chess game. A chess game without their most powerful piece, he says, is a game we have a great chance of winning.

3:40As night falls at the International Bridge, Aida, who is 72, heads back home to Venezuela. Back in 2019, there was great expectation of change. The Venezuelan opposition expected mass protests to force the military into backing Juan Guaido. And through this bridge, he would make a triumphant return to his country as president. That never happened. And Aida says she's thinking about that moment right now. She's happy, she says. But in the back of your mind, you're worried about what will actually happen. So there is only one thing to do.

4:23We trust in God, she says. God willing, this is all for good. Reporting there from NPR's Eder Peralta, who is back with us now. Eder, it really sounds like some of that worry surfaced last evening with gunfire in Caracas. It did. And residents also reported anti-aircraft fire. And the fear was that a struggle for power had just started. But the government told local media that they were reacting to a drone, that nothing was wrong. Indeed, earlier in the day, Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as president by the Congress, and the minister of defense said the military stood behind her. And what about Maria Karina Machado?

5:03She orchestrated what is widely seen as an electoral win last year, and she won the Nobel Peace Prize. Where is she? She's been left in the cold by the Trump administration, and it's unclear whether there's a path for her to get back to Venezuela. She was on Fox News last night and she praised Trump and she said that she was sure that her political party would come back to power. That's NPR's Eder Peralta in Cucutat along Colombia's border with Venezuela. He spoke with NPR's Juana Summers on All Things Considered. Now to Europe. Members of what's known as the Coalition of the Willing gathered in Paris.

5:41That's the group of 35 countries committed to guaranteeing Ukraine's sovereignty if and when a peace agreement with Russia is reached. But the meeting was overshadowed by new worries about the U.S. administration's interest in a completely different place, Greenland. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley was following.

6:06French President Emmanuel Macron said the coalition had nearly finalized details for a multinational force on air, land and sea to bring a kind of reassurance to Ukraine once the war stops. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed doubts. We have to be frank. For all Russia's words, Putin is not showing that he's ready for peace. Over the last few weeks, we've seen the opposite. But before the nations could even get down to working on Ukraine, they had to address another pressing issue of sovereignty that's resurfaced in the last days. The Trump administration wants Greenland, going by the recent comments of the president and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.

6:48So France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Britain and Denmark issued a statement stressing that Greenland belongs to its people and that only Denmark and Greenland can decide the island's future. The statement spoke of collective action to protect the Arctic in conjunction with NATO and the U.S. The Europeans have to make nice, says Martin Kinse, head of the German Marshall Fund in Paris. The Europeans are not able to take any kind of strong position on any issues related to U.S. foreign policy because Europe depends so much on the U.S. for its own defense and for the future of Ukraine. Political scientist Dominique Moisy with the Institut Montaigne says this is an ironic moment.

7:33With Europe facing two threats and not one. One from Russia, the classical one, and now one from the United States of America. The U.S. did have a voice at the talks. So my name is Steve Witkoff. Hello, everybody. President Trump's Mideast peace envoy stood next to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. They tried to put a positive spin on proceedings, but the new talk of the U.S. taking Greenland somehow cast a pall on the process. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.

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