Venezuela has activated a new internal control framework that orders full mobilization of security forces and coincides with the installation of checkpoints, armed patrols in Caracas and reports of the presence of pro-government civilian groups.
The decree, published Saturday, declares a state of external emergency across the entire country after what the government describes as a foreign armed attack -- the bombing by the States and capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The text significantly expands the powers of security forces and authorizes the application of exceptional internal control measures, including restrictions on movement, public gatherings and certain civil guarantees.
One of the most sensitive provisions of the decree is Article 5, which orders national, state and municipal police forces to immediately search for and detain anyone involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack and to placed them at the disposal of the criminal justice system.
In the hours after the decree, vehicle checkpoints began to appear across several areas of Caracas, with a visible presence of armed security forces carrying out patrols and inspections.
Images and videos circulated on official social media accounts of Venezuela's Justice Ministry showing police officers deployed on the streets of the capital as part of the internal control operation.
Photographs posted on Instagram showing Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello touring parts of Caracas alongside heavily armed security personnel.
According to messages accompanying the posts, Cabello personally supervised the security deployments in the capital as part of the measures adopted under the emergency decree. In one video, the security members can be seen shouting "loyal always, traitors never!"
"Terror night, kidnapping and intimidation by Cabello and his gang of thugs in Caracas," economist and professor Daniel Lacalle wrote on X, citing a video showing a convoy of police vehicles moving through the city.
In the same context, the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Prensa, or SNTP, reported that on Monday, during the installation of the National Assembly, 14 journalists and media workers were detained in Caracas, 13 of them from international media outlets and agencies and one from a domestic outlet.
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