Diana Camacaro fled Venezuela when a friend close to Nicolás Maduro's regime texted her she was on a list to be arrested
Diana Camacaro went into hiding for two-and-a-half months before she fled Venezuela. (Supplied)
Diana Camacaro remembers the moment her fear became her reality.
It was two days after the widely disputed 2024 Venezuelan election when the human rights activist received a message via the Telegram app.
It came from someone she had studied with, who was close with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's regime.
The message told her she was on a list of people to be detained that day.
The 27-year-old had to leave her home in Venezuela, where she is yet to return.
Upon receiving the message, she immediately headed for a safe house where she stayed in hiding along with other political dissidents for more than two months.
She soon learned that her passport was among the hundreds to be cancelled along with other political activists and opponents of the government, preventing her from travelling abroad to seek asylum in any legal fashion.
Diana Camacaro is a human rights activist, who was forced to flee into Colombia. (Supplied)
She remained in the safe house until it too was potentially set to be raided.
"The person who was sheltering us in the safe house had been warned that she was possibly at risk of arrest," Ms Camacaro told 7.30 from the town of Cucuta on the Colombia-Venezuela border.
"I can't reveal who she is, obviously, but she is also a politically exposed person and was at risk, as were many activists, of being arrested.
"When we saw that the situation was untenable, after we had already been in shelter for two-and-a-half months, we decided to leave because it was too long waiting for the situation to change."
The need to flee the safe house led Ms Camacaro to Colombia, where she has remained in exile.
Her story is not unique.
Gaby Arellano was elected to Venezuela's parliament in 2015 as a member of the opposition, but she says she was forced to flee in 2018.
Gaby Arellano was elected to Venezuela's parliament in 2015 as a member of the opposition. (ABC News: Dickon Mager)
"All my rights and the office I held were violated," Ms Arellano told 7.30.
"I had to flee Venezuela. If I hadn't fled then, I would be a political prisoner like some of my colleagues who are in Venezuelan jails today."
Living close to the border helped her to escape into Colombia, which she recounted to 7.30.
She described the conditions of her exit as: "Fleeing with people's help, in very crucial hours."
"I am from the state of Táchira on the border with Colombia, and that allowed me to have a mechanism to leave in hours to areas of Norte de Santander, which is the border state with Venezuela."
Long road back
Despite Mr Maduro now being in US custody, after an operation that saw him and his wife seized inside their Caracas compound and charged with narco-terrorism, Ms Camacaro still does not feel safe returning to her native country.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is currently in US custody. (AP: Cristian Hernandez)
She hopes it will happen some day.
"Until there is a stable transition and a stable democratic government there, it is not safe for activists like us who are abroad to return," she said.
"But I do see myself returning to my country in the future to be an agent of change and serve my people."
Ms Camacaro has several friends, colleagues and fellow activists who remain detained by Maduro's government — one of whom, she claims, died at the hands of the regime last month.
The United Nations and Human Rights Watch say that under Maduro's administration, thousands have died in extrajudicial killings. Millions more have been forced to flee the country due to economic collapse resulting from crippling US sanctions.
"Knowing that Maduro will finally be held accountable before international justice is a great relief for Venezuelans," Ms Camacaro said.
"No country likes intervention, but in the case of Venezuelans, facing a criminal cartel that holds our state hostage, we know that these measures are necessary."
Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez has been sworn in as interim president with the backing of the US, while Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado has vowed to return to her country and called for elections to be held.
Nearly a week on from the US raid to seize Mr Maduro, the Venezuelan government is reportedly releasing a significant number of foreign and Venezuelan prisoners.
"These release processes are taking place as of this very moment," Venezuela's top lawmaker and brother of the interim president, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Friday.
It's a major concession after years of demands to do so from the country's opposition and much of the international community.
Fears that US price is oil
President Donald Trump has declared the US will take back oil assets it once held in Venezuela.
Donald Trump has made his intentions clear when it comes to both Mr Maduro and Venezuelan oil. (AP: Alex Brandon)
The South American nation has the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at around 300 billion barrels — greater than Saudi Arabia's estimated reserve of 267 billion barrels — but the South American nation extracts about 900,000 barrels per day, compared to the Gulf state's daily production of 10 million barrels.
Asked whether the price of giving oil to the US is a fair one, Ms Camacaro offered the assessment that if it is the price for a free and democratic Venezuela, then she believes it would be worth it.
"In this case, most Venezuelans, including myself, know that the price to be paid for freedom and for stabilising a democratic regime in the country is oil,"she said.
"I'm sure most are willing to pay it."
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says more than 7.9 million Venezuelans have left the country since Maduro came to power in 2013.
There is a strong mlitary presence at the Colombia-Venezuela border crossing. (ABC News: Dickon Mager)
It is the largest exodus in Latin America's recent history and one of the largest displacement crises in the world.
Many of them have fled to other South American nations, with the largest number in Colombia.
Street artist Marcos Leon has not left Venezuela, but he travels to the border town of Cucuta to make money.
The 22-year-old sings, juggles and does acrobatics for passers-by and brings his meagre earnings home to his family in the border town of San Antonio del Tachira.
He described the situation in Venezuela since Maduro's capture as one of "uncertainty and unease" about what lies ahead, and believes the US and Mr Trump have a vested interest.
"Every favour requires a returned favour," Mr Leon said.
"We don't know the implications of receiving that help from the US.
Marcos Leon's family lives in the border town of San Atonio del Tachira — he crosses into Colombia to make money. (ABC News: Dickon Mager)
"Venezuelans fear that something more will be taken from us.
"In part, we are happy about what happened, but also there is fear that there will be further interference in other areas which belong to the people and Venezuela.
"It's a very rich country, in general. For agriculture, for the land, and for oil, and for gold, so that's the fear that exists."
The country's economy is almost solely reliant on its oil industry, which was nationalised in the 70s.
The government has been heavily sanctioned by the US and international community, which, alongside its domestic policies, has contributed to hyperinflation across Venezuela.
'Everybody has left'
Corruption is rampant within the ranks of government, so the money made from what is a lucrative industry in other parts of the world doesn't reach the everyday Venezuelan.
Mr Leon says he crosses the border to Colombia to make money.
"To work over there [in Venezuela], there are very few opportunities, " he told 7.30.
"Everybody over there just barely makes it. It's very little money."
He also said people simply cannot afford to spend money.
"There is very little spending, very few people. Everybody has left,"he said.
"In San Antonio, there are very few people. The people are elderly.
"Most people now live in central areas, Caracas, Barquisimeto."
For 40-year-old José Rafael Rodríguez Meléndez, the situation is slightly different, though no more dire.
José Rafael Rodríguez Meléndez has been living in Cucuta for a decade. (ABC News: Dickon Mager)
He has been living in Cucuta for a decade and sells fruit and vegetables on the street.
He wants to return home and see his mother, but says the removal of Mr Maduro doesn't solve the employment crisis in Venezuela.
"Right now it's impossible to get a job there,"Mr Meléndez said.
"I want to be in my country, but because of the difficult economic situation in Venezuela, one has to leave for the life one wants."
Twenty-three per cent of the nation's population has been displaced under Mr Maduro.
María Corina Machado has yet to receive the support of Donald Trump. (AP: Cristian Hernandez)
For many in the Venezuela diaspora, there is hope, but it is tempered with caution.
Ms Arellano wants to see Ms Machado in power immediately — a leader who she said "has never lied to us, never deceived us".
Mr Leon is less sure.
"She can't just go straight in. She has already backed out several times. I think it has to be a new person," he said.
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