In the stillness of the early morning, specifically at 2:30 am this Saturday, January 3, the roar of at least two consecutive explosions broke the sleep and peace of the La Soublette sector, in the Catia La Mar parish, La Guaira state. What survivors describe as a “missile” or “artifact” hit multi-family buildings, transforming in minutes a family living area into a disaster zone with collapsed walls, collapsed ceilings and shattered lives.
The preliminary balance of the air offensive perpetrated by the United States government against Venezuela is one person dead, one seriously injured and eight slightly injured. The scars from the impacts are deep on the facades and structures, revealing the magnitude of an aggression that has directly struck the heart of this community.
“A candelazo, a bravo explosion”: the story of horror
Wilman González, survivor of the first impact, crudely narrates the seconds that changed everything. “When I was going to lie down on the furniture, watch TikTok, the issue exploded, a flash of light… the impact threw me against the wall.” The force of the explosion projected him, as well as his sister and brother. The tragedy took its toll on his family: his sister, Rosa González, 80, died as a result of the impact. “Not here, she dies down there in the hospital… she dies as a result of the explosion,” says Wilman, who points to the remains of the device. “When they saw the remains of the missile, it was like a canister, but it wasn’t a canister, it was an artifact.”
While collecting the pieces of what was his home, acquired by his parents in 1969, he expresses a helplessness that is mixed with desperation: “Now who helps us look for a home… it’s not easy.”
Two impacts, a family caught in the middle
A few meters away, Jesús Linares (48 years old) lived a similar nightmare. The first whoosh and impact brought him out of bed. “They are invading us,” was the first thing he thought. As she ran with her daughter towards her mother’s room, a second and more powerful crash shook the front of the apartment. “I was thrown… I fell on the ground, I felt something hit my head,” he says, showing a minor injury. In the midst of darkness and dust, with a hemorrhage, his priority was to calm his daughter and his mother and seek refuge in a closet, fearing a new attack. “I don’t know if another missile is coming,” he explains about the anguish of those endless minutes until he hears the neighbors and rescues his family.
The vulnerability has a name: Tibisay Suárez
Among the most vulnerable affected is Tibisay Suárez, an 82-year-old woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, who now faces a double tragedy. Hospitalized in the Pariata Periférico with wounds, trauma and burns on her legs and arms, as a result of the explosion, she does not remember what happened. Her only son lives in Germany, so she has no immediate family to help her. Only her neighbors watch over her, while reality prevails; In addition to his injuries, he has been left homeless.
A landscape of destruction and unanswered questions
The La Soublette sector today is a silent testimony of the destruction. The remains of furniture, appliances and household goods mix with concrete and dust.
The authorities, according to Wilman González, took “the largest part” of the missile remains. The community wonders, with disbelief and anger, why the need for a foreign warlike attack against Venezuelans? These are questions that today do not get answers, that keep them uncertain, traumatized and devastated by having lost their home, their home that sheltered the majority for more than 40 years. The need for answers and official help to rebuild lives and homes is the unanimous cry among the rubble.
