Jan 4 (Reuters) – Some homes in the town of Catia La Mar near Venezuela’s capital Caracas were damaged or destroyed in the U.S. military operation that captured President Nicolas Maduro, residents told Reuters on Sunday, while officials reported an unspecified number of deaths.
Jonatan Mallora, a 50-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, and his neighbor Angel Alvarez, a young street vendor, said they woke on Saturday to explosions in their community in La Guaira state, about 31 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas.
Venezuelan authorities have said the U.S. hit areas in La Guaira, Caracas and the neighboring states of Miranda and Aragua and that soldiers, civilians and much of Maduro’s security team were killed, though they have not offered specific figures on dead and injured.
The small Romulo Gallegos neighborhood, where Mallora and Alvarez live, was damaged in the U.S. attack on a nearby naval academy.
“It’s sheer luck they didn’t kill my kids,” Mallora said amid the rubble of his apartment, where the roof was destroyed. He said he fled and escaped unharmed along with his 24-year-old daughter and 22-year-old son.
Alvarez surveyed shrapnel damage to his apartment wall and water tank — vital in a country where water supply is unreliable. He said he was relieved to have a spare tank and his home remained standing, unlike Mallora’s.
“We really didn’t know what to do,” Alvarez said, recalling how he ran back and forth after waking to the deafening noise.
“I would never wish on anyone” the experience of an attack, he added. “We’re alive by a miracle.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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