Caracas Chronicles

#NowWhatVenezuela keeps you informed about what’s happening deep inside la patria—from headline-making events to underreported stories that provide the clearest picture of our reality.

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People are losing their homes, and food can’t make it down the mountain

Extreme rainfall has triggered a state of emergency in southwestern Venezuela, with dozens of roads and bridges collapsing, families left homeless by floods from Mérida to Portuguesa, and farmers desperate to get their produce out. The panic over economic and material consequences in Mérida is so intense that farmers in the mountain villages have warned the rest of the country may suffer if the crops go to waste. But the routes from Mérida to Barinas and Trujillo are closed, several just outright destroyed by landslides and rising water. Up in the highlands near Trujillo is the town of Timotes, considered Venezuela’s main vegetable storage hub according to Diario de los Andes. But the Troncal 7—also known as the Trasandina highway, which crosses Mérida and connects with Trujillo and the rest of the country—has collapsed due to the overflow of the Motatán River, the closest river to Timotes. The collapse has left farmers cut off and their harvests at imminent risk of being lost.

In this interview with Román Lozinski, two representatives of the agricultural sector call on the state to act and bring in heavy machinery to clear the landslides so the harvests aren’t ruined. According to El Pitazo, Maduro said a “provisional road will be opened on Troncal 7” to move machinery and facilitate state assistance, while Miguel Torres, head of Mérida’s Chamber of Commerce, stated that an “emergency route” had been reopened so trucks can deliver food to the rest of the country. But it remains unclear whether this solution will hold in the medium term.

A bridge in Portuguesa also collapsed. It was part of the José Antonio Páez Highway, the main route connecting the Andes with the Llanos and central Venezuela. That segment gave out on Wednesday under the rising waters of the Ospino River and broke off on one side. Fortunately, bystanders managed to rescue those crossing at the time and no lives were lost. The governor of Portuguesa said an alternate route has been opened to bypass the collapse.

More information: To no one’s surprise, the state granted exclusive access to Madeleine García of Telesur, a near-official regime mouthpiece, to cover the “Andes 2025 Task Force” and report on the work along Troncal 7. She said the route will be reopened “in the coming hours” to allow for the transport of supplies and food. We’ll see how long it actually takes—and whether there’ll also be a military deployment to handle the emergency.

“We need food supplies, drinking water, household items, coats, and blankets. The situation is serious,” said Andrés Eloy Ramírez, who leads the Association of Producers from the Miranda municipality, where Timotes is located and where, according to TV Calle, 102 families have been displaced. That same outlet also reports that the local chapel was destroyed by the Motatán River, as you can see here.

Just four months ago, Trujillo governor Gerardo Márquez promised that his office and the Ministry of Transport would rehabilitate 14 bridges, that all municipalities had paving plans, and that this would be the year of Trujillo’s revival and greatness (thanks to Diario de los Andes for keeping track). Now he faces a triple challenge at the start of his second term: Trujillo has also declared a renewable three-month state of emergency. Campo Elías, one of its municipalities, is now isolated due to the overflow of the Boconó River. In Niquitao, another municipality, the water system was damaged by the rising river and residents lost access to drinking water. In this report by Andrea Briceño, locals lament that Niquitao will never be the same again. Diario de los Andes also reported a man missing after landslides along the Timotes-Valera road.

In Táchira, Governor Freddy Bernal said 240 homes have been affected, but a binational road connecting to Colombia has been reopened. The Táchira River, which runs from there to the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, has overflowed five times in the past two months. These photos from La Nación show how the border town of La Parada has been flooded. Back in May, Bernal had presented his “Master Plan for the Development of Táchira” (also covered by La Nación) and boasted that his direct relationship with Maduro would secure investments and resolve local problems. We’ll see if that proves true now—and if other governors in the Andes get that kind of assistance

National overview: The state issued an official report on the areas, mainly covering Mérida, Trujillo, Barinas, Portuguesa and Táchira. Maduro said 8,826 families have been displaced—meaning they lost their homes—but according to his own numbers, only 370 homes were damaged. That doesn’t quite add up, but we’ll see how the figures evolve. In this video we subtitled in English, Destierro Climático explains why this is happening: it’s not just a “natural disaster,” but a socio-environmental emergency where a lack of planning and infrastructure has left the population exposed to extreme rainfall.

A man denounced extortion and ended up recording his own murder

An influencer from Maracay live-streamed on TikTok as armed men stormed his home, with his mother screaming for help in the background, and killed him during the broadcast. Gabriel Sarmiento, 25, had previously used a different livestream to accuse corrupt police officers of attempting to extort him—alleging that they were colluding with the mega-gangs Tren de Aragua and Tren del Llano. He had asked the state to investigate the figures he named in his videos, including a prosecutor from Aragua state.

In his final video, already wounded by a gunshot, Sarmiento kept filming and seemed to recognize one of the intruders, calling him by name. Another man then appeared, also armed, and four gunshots rang out before the livestream cut off. On Friday, Diosdado said the suspects have been identified, one has been arrested, and the incident was a “manufactured act,” “linked to the generation of violent events.”

Journalist Day in Venezuela & an update at the UN

Friday, June 27, was Journalist Day in Venezuela, commemorating the anti-monarchist newspaper Simón Bolívar founded in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar) in 1818. We’ve said it many times before, but today we say it again: doing journalism in Venezuela is extraordinarily difficult—especially after the events of July 28, 2024. As of now, 20 journalists and media professionals are imprisoned, according to the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP). Most are denied visits and barred from contacting their lawyers. At least 12 others face ongoing criminal cases.

As Runrunes reported, the SNTP is campaigning to remind us why journalism matters: it’s an essential tool for demanding freedom and justice, defending your rights, keeping hope alive in society, and recording a historical account of violence and abuse. Even so, some subjects are now too dangerous to cover—like currency exchange controls and the black-market dollar rate. Since last year, journalists at outlets critical of the regime no longer sign stories with their own names, but instead use the name of their organizations. In yesterday’s editorial, Correo del Caroní—a key reference point for southern Venezuela and vital to this weekly report—said that merely serving as a vehicle for social outcry, as the newspaper’s mission dictates, puts them in conflict with government corruption and private interests. Still, they intend to press on, “at all costs.”

To wrap up, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk presented an update on Venezuela before the Human Rights Council. The new report covers a range of issues: the ongoing practice of forced disappearances, lasting anywhere from 1 to 159 days; the resurgence of shortages in hospitals in 2025; the miserable working conditions of public employees, whose salaries are under $100 a month; the long-standing abuses against indigenous groups demanding territorial demarcation; and gender-based violence in Venezuela’s prisons, which includes pregnant women, minors, and trans individuals. The High Commissioner’s office in Caracas remains shut down.