People sell groceries at stands outside the Quinta Crespo municipal market in Caracas on September 30, 2025. The Venezuelan currency closed September 2025 with a 71% drop against the dollar since January 2, to the distress of millions of families struggling with the world's highest inflation. Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images Caracas, Venezuela —

The daily routine of Samuel Carreño has turned upside down since the end of August.

That was around the time Donald Trump ordered warships to the southern Caribbean in what the US president said was a mission against drug trafficking, unleashing a wave of geopolitical tensions that have kept the region on edge ever since.

But it’s not the US warships — or Caracas’ suspicions that Washington is more interested in deposing Venezuelan Presi

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