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That collapse spread fast. The same resident described the city’s new reality in stark terms. “No boats of any kind are leaving… not migrants, not people buying goods there to sell here, and certainly not those taking Venezuelan products to sell there, which was another way to make money. Everything is practically dead.”
Trump’s campaign to suffocate the Venezuelan drug trade has also triggered a dangerous response from dictator Nicolás Maduro’s intelligence network. Families of men believed to have been killed in the strikes told Reuters that police and intelligence agents descended on their homes, interrogating them and warning them not to speak publicly. Officers reportedly searched homes and offered no information about the deaths, leaving families with no bodies and no explanations.
Residents say the real shock came afterward. Reports indicate that Venezuela’s feared Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service flooded the region. Locals now describe the streets as quiet, tense, and watched at all times. A former resident recounted how officials established a DGCIM “command center” inside a state owned hotel near a resort area, triggering a chilling effect that emptied public spaces and silenced the community.
People who once enjoyed the relative freedom of a border town now feel surrounded by covert agents. One former resident explained, “The people in town know there are individuals who are not part of the community, not from there. People walking around like civilians, but they belong to government intelligence.” The resident added, “There’s so much secrecy — no one talks about it because they don’t know if someone is listening.”
These intelligence agencies are not ordinary police. The DGCIM is currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court and has been sanctioned by the United States for allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings, and systemic abuse. SEBIN, the regime’s other surveillance arm, has been known to target journalists, opponents, and anyone who questions the dictatorship.
Meanwhile, the United States military presence around Venezuela continues to expand. Approximately ten percent of the entire United States naval force is now positioned near the country. Since early September, American forces have conducted twenty one strikes on suspected narcotrafficking vessels, eliminating more than eighty targets. In mid October, Trump authorized covert CIA operations inside the country, signaling that maritime strikes may only be the beginning.
The administration escalated pressure again in November when it formally designated the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, accusing Nicolás Maduro himself of leading the cartel.
Speaking to service members on Thursday, Trump hinted that even more aggressive action may be ahead. He suggested that United States forces might soon confront Venezuelan smugglers not only from the sea but also on land.
The message is clear. Under the Trump administration, Washington is done tolerating a narco state that profits off trafficking, corruption, and destabilizing the Western Hemisphere. And for towns like Güiria, the consequences of America’s renewed enforcement are being felt every day as the Maduro regime tightens its grip and the illegal economy that once sustained the city collapses into silence.
