Maduro’s motorcycle thugs go door to door in hunt for Trump supporters

Loyalists scour Caracas for signs of dissent and celebration of US raid

By Susie Coen  

A Caracas highway is choked with cars.

But far from typical rush hour traffic, Avenida Boyacá, a highway running alongside El Avila National Park in Venezuela’s capital, has ground to a halt because masked men holding Kalashnikovs are stopping drivers and demanding to search their phones and cars.

The gangs of armed men, part of pro-Maduro militias known as Colectivos, scoured vehicles at hastily erected checkpoints following a government directive to root out Venezuelans in support of the US’s brazen capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Days after the sudden decapitation of the Maduro regime, Venezuelans have been left fearing what could come next as mobs of men dressed in civilian clothes with assault rifles slung over their shoulders roam the streets.

“The future is uncertain, the Colectivos have weapons, the Colombian guerrilla is already here in Venezuela, so we don’t know what’s going to happen, time will tell,” Oswaldo, a 69-year-old Venezuelan shop owner, told The Telegraph.

A state of emergency decree published on Monday has sought to crack down on any public celebration of the US operation. It ordered 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”.