At 2:05 in the morning, while detonations were heard and military planes flew overhead, Mariana Camargo, a 21-year-old student, ran through the streets of the east of the capital with a group of friends, trying to find safety. At that moment, Associated Press photographer Matías Delacroix captured the scene that would become one of the first and most widely spread images of the US military operation in Venezuela, ordered by the administration of Donald Trump and which culminated in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, later replaced by the vice president.
"A woman shouted at us to go home because they were bombing," Camargo recalled. The photograph shows the young woman in a white shirt and jeans, running with fear reflected on her face, while her friends follow her. The image made headlines in international media and was soon recognized by her friends, who shared it on WhatsApp and social networks, even turning it into memes.
Although Camargo laughs when she sees the photo today, she admits that the memory remains traumatic and that the sounds of the explosions still trigger anxiety in her. The snapshot summarizes the human impact of an attack that marked a turning point in the crisis between the United States and Venezuela.