Caracas Gridlock: Military Exercises disrupt City Life Amidst US-Venezuela Tensions

During the morning and noon of Saturday, September 20, Caracas experienced meaningful disruption due to the closure of the East Highway, the city’s main thoroughfare, by the deployment of tanks in the Altamira distributor.

This turned a large area of the city into a massive parking lot, with vehicular congestion extending to the center, east, and southeast.

The presence of the tanks was part of military exercises promoted by the government of Nicolás Maduro, intended to demonstrate military strength to the United States. Maduro views his government as the victim of an undeclared war, citing the presence of US ships in the Caribbean and surveillance airplanes operating from the Military Base in puerto Rico.

Donald Trump has stated that US activity is aimed at combating drug trafficking, while concurrently labeling senior Venezuelan government officials as “narco-terrorists.”

Today’s military exercises also included training for reservists from the so-called voluntary “militia.” maduro ordered military personnel into neighborhoods to “train” the civilian population. one such exercise took place in the Algeria laya neighborhood of Petare.

According to AFP, the turnout for these exercises was lower than anticipated, with only “small groups” of civilians participating.