The streets of Caracas are decorated with Christmas lights. The sounds of traditional Venezuelan Christmas music can be heard everywhere. Everyday life seems unaffected: children going to school, adults going to work, merchants opening their shops.
Beneath this surface lies anxiety, fear and frustration, with some even taking precautions against a possible attack amid tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
The woman, who asked to be identified as Victoria for fear of retaliation, has lived alone in western Caracas since her two children left the country and now works in a commercial field. She describes how her daily life has been full of uncertainty for the past few months, with daily uneasy developments robbing her of peace of mind.
Victoria confesses that although she hasn’t stopped her day job, this state of alert, with constant questions about what will happen next, is disrupting her sleep.
She admits that sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and starts checking the news on her phone, which makes it difficult to go back to sleep.
“There is a conflict going on that we as ordinary people cannot do anything about,” she said, referring to a potential conflict between her country and the Trump administration. “We try to go on with our daily lives, we try to go on with our daily activities, but it’s always interrupted by the whole situation that we’re going through and it definitely affects us.”
Victoria said that she had to take natural sleeping pills to fall asleep, did not want to talk to anyone, and even experienced physical discomfort as a result. “Only the person wearing this shoe feels it,” says Victoria.
Venezuelans are “hard-working, kind-hearted people. They don’t deserve everything that’s happening to us,” she says.
Prolonged political tensions between Venezuela and the United States have affected the mental health of Venezuelans in recent months, said Yoleris Acosta, a clinical and social psychologist and research coordinator at the Center for Development Studies at the Central University of Venezuela.
“There’s no single way to handle what’s happening to us,” she says.
Acosta explains that how each person perceives and responds to a crisis depends on factors such as where they live and their connections to their surroundings, among other things. “It’s not the same for Venezuelans from Tachira or Zulia who live on the border, and it’s not the same for Venezuelans from Caracas.” He added that people outside the country must also be considered, many of whom feel that Venezuela is “at war or completely militarized,” but the reality is quite different.
Perceptions also differ between those who want nothing to do with the issue and those who are overconnected, sometimes misinformed or overinformed, and suffer from high levels of anxiety and insomnia, Acosta said.
She recommends maintaining a healthy relationship with news and social media to avoid information overload. “Yes, we need to stay informed, but we need to get information from trusted sources and within a limited amount of time. We can’t spend all day connecting, and we need to take breaks, move around, breathe, and prioritize our physical and mental health,” she says.
Some, like Yanica Albarran, focus on daily life and maintaining peace. Albarrán, who participated in a march in support of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on December 1, told CNN that she is committed to the freedom, peace and Bolivarian revolution that the president claims to represent.
“Mothers send their children to school, women go to work and teach at universities, farmers plant rice, merchants sell goods. Our country is at peace, because President Nicolas Maduro and the entire armed forces guarantee it,” she insisted before rejoining the march. Several people marched that day to the rhythm of the president’s slogan, “No war, peace”, supporting the government’s position on normal life and untouchable Venezuela.
But not everyone is experiencing Albarrán’s moment, and the arrival of Christmas has heightened economic and political tensions. “While some people have reason to celebrate December, others remember their absence. Many miss relatives abroad or are faced with the loss of a loved one,” Acosta said.
And in increasingly isolated Venezuela, those feelings are even more complicated.
Fear also led to concrete measures.
CNN has obtained a memo from some private schools in Caracas asking parents to submit an “individual emergency kit” for each student attending the school this school year. The kit should include water, nonperishable food, hygiene products, medicines if needed, and a flashlight.
The rationale is that such kits may be needed if students have to spend the night at school, especially in the event of an earthquake. But one parent who spoke to CNN and asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions believes the request is meant to prepare for other scenarios related to tensions between Caracas and Washington.
Since the United States launched attacks on ships in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean on September 2, President Trump has repeatedly hinted at the possibility of operations inside Venezuelan territory, but it is unclear if or when that will occur.
This uncertainty has led some companies to take other precautions. Some business owners interviewed by CNN, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said they constantly monitor road conditions across the country to ensure the distribution of their products, and conduct communications training to alert employees if something unusual happens.
Several airlines suspended flights to and from Venezuela on November 21 after the US Federal Aviation Administration urged planes to use extreme caution when flying over Venezuela and the Southern Caribbean due to potentially hazardous conditions. Venezuelan authorities gave the planes 48 hours to resume operations before deciding to revoke their permission to fly in the country.
Victoria said she “completely broke down” and felt “deep sadness” when she read the news.
The announcement all but ended any chance of her visiting her daughter in France, which she had not done in two years.
“When I heard the news, it felt like the world was crushing me,” she confessed, adding that she was horrified to see the country become increasingly isolated. She is still exploring travel options through Colombia, Panama or Curacao to reunite with her family, but she also worries about the risks she would be taking by traveling under the current circumstances.
December is usually an ideal time to see loved ones, but with nearly 8 million Venezuelans living abroad, many are currently unable to reunite with their families.
Luis Rosas is an engineer living in Brazil. He had planned to spend part of December in Venezuela celebrating his mother’s 80th birthday. As the date approached, he experienced anxiety instead of joy, constantly doubting whether there was any point in traveling in the current situation.
For Rosas, the main reason to return home and reconnect with his roots has always been his family, especially his mother.
“Unfortunately, situations like this create anxiety, frustration and anxiety,” he says. “At the end of the day, these situations are out of your control, but they affect everything.”
Ultimately, after analyzing the situation and considering the safety of his family and son, he decided not to travel to Venezuela this Christmas.
