Gangs of armed men on motorcycles are patrolling the streets of Caracas, looking for supporters of Donald Trump and his military operation in Venezuela with the support of at least one key government official.
The Colectivos are a group of paramilitary militias that still support deposed leader Nicolas Maduro and have been searching vehicles at checkpoints.
The bikers, many of them masked and armed with Kalashnikovs, have searched phones and cars looking for evidence of people backing Trump's action in Caracas as an unofficial tool of the state.
In the wake of Maduro's arrest, a 90-day state of emergency put in place by the Venezuelan government orders police to 'immediately begin the national search and capture of everyone involved in the promotion or support for the armed attack by the United States.'
They have already arrested 14 journalists, 11 of whom come from out of the country, while others remain missing, The Telegraph reported.
Many of the members of Colectivos have been seen posing with Maduro's Interior, Justice and Peace Minister Diosdado Cabello, who still clings tight to the notion that Maduro is the nation's lawful president.
'Here, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no one fall for the enemy's provocations,' Cabello said in a statement through the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
A video of Cabello - who has a bounty of $50million on his head in the US for drug trafficking - with the militia members that has circulated on social media sees them chanting a slogan that translates to: 'Always loyal, never traitors.'
Other videos show them calling Americans and supporters of Trump 'pigs' who will steal the nation's resources.
Their presence has many frightened to leave their homes, with one anonymous anti-Maduro citizen saying they're scared she could have their phone searched and imprisoned for going against the government.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Fox News Monday that the Colectivos are 'really alarming.'
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who served as Maduro's vice president, had struck a more conciliatory tone in a statement on Sunday.
'We extend an invitation to the US government to work together on a cooperation agenda, aimed at shared development, within the framework of international law, and to strengthen lasting community coexistence,' she said in her statement.
On Tuesday, Trump announced a deal with the Venezuelan regime to give the United States 30 to 50 million barrels of oil which could be worth up to $2billion.
The president has openly stated that the military operation to depose leader Nicolas Maduro this past weekend was, in part, an attempt to extract some of oil-rich Venezuela's stock.
'I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,' he posted to Truth Social.
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