Marines conducts a rapid response exercise at the US Embassy in Venezuela's capital

Описание: (23 May 2026)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4660956

THUMBNAIL: (Left) Government supporters protest against a U.S. emergency and air evacuation drill conducted at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey) ID 26143602709393. (Right) U.S. Embassy holds emergency and air evacuation drill in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey) ID 26143521525527

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caracas, Venezuela - 23 May 2026
1. People looking at US military aircraft flying towards the U.S. embassy in Caracas
2. Woman waving Venezuelan and U.S. flags
3. Aircraft landing at US embassy
4. Split screen of US embassy drill, marines, embassy personnel (top), people watching aircraft (bottom)
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) no name given:
++PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOTS 2, 3, 4, 6 AND 7++
"There have been years where this (country) was controlled by Cuba and other countries that have given us nothing or very little. So that one country comes to support us, welcome. I don't want to be a state 51, no. But for them to give us the tools to move forward."
6. Military aircraft landing
7. People watching aircrafts
8. Split screen of people watching (top left), aircraft and marines at US embassy (top right), people watching and Caracas skyline (bottom left) and US flag at embassy (bottom right)
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Beatriz Weinreb, Caracas resident:
++PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOT 8++
"We smell freedom, little by little. And it is exciting. I have not lived in anything else that is not a dictatorship."
9. Government supporter holding picture of independence hero Simon Bolivar and late president Hugo Chávez
10. Government supporters demonstrating against the U.S. drill
11. Split screen of government supporters holding banners reading "No to the Yankee drill" and "Yankee Go home." (top) and aircraft taking off from US embassy, drill (bottom)
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hernan Vargas, government supporter:
++PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOTS 9, 10, 11 AND 13++
"We are declaring our outrage for the U.S attempting to occupy this continent, for them attacking Venezuela militarily 141 days ago, and that they today do a military drill is an expression of their military superiority to humiliate the people."
13. Aircraft
STORYLINE:
The U.S. military conducted a rapid response exercise involving Marines and military aircraft in Venezuela’s capital on Saturday, more than four months after the ouster of then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft, which have characteristics of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane, flew over the recently reopened U.S. Embassy in Caracas. They landed in the parking lot with the downdraft blowing tree branches. Forces then descended from the aircraft.

Dozens of people gathered at a lookout point overlooking the embassy.

Most seemed perplexed when they saw the aircraft flying above them.

Some couldn't hold back emotion. "We smell freedom, little by little," said Maria Beatriz Weinreb, a Caracas resident with teary eyes.

Another woman waved U.S. and Venezuelan flags and was thrilled of getting "help" from the U.S..

"I don't want to be a state 51, no. But for them to give us the tools to move forward. 100%, here I am," she said.

On the other side of the city, a group of government supporters protested the drill, claiming it was a humiliation.

"Is an expression of their military superiority to humiliate the people," said government supporter Hernan Vargas.



"I think it's a further extension of that expropriation of national and popular sovereignty," she said.








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