Elena Bertiz, 78, was sleeping in her bedroom early on Saturday morning in her Caracas home when a sudden noise woke her. At first, she told CNN, she thought it was an earthquake.
“So, I got up running, put on my shoes, and started grabbing some clothes,” Bertiz told CNN’s Osmary Hernández, who visited her in the La Boyera neighborhood on Sunday.
Bertiz then heard planes passing by. “Oh no, what anxiety, such horrible anxiety,” she said.
She later saw that her house, where she had been living for the last 50 years, was hit by shrapnel during the US military attack launched to capture the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
She said it ravaged parts of the structure, shattered windows and crystal panels, and left holes in the walls and ceiling, among other damage.
Bertiz’s daughter, Patricia Salazar, told CNN that she expected some kind of military action from the US, but not to see it so close to home.
“I was sure something was going to happen, but I thought it was time to celebrate, that it was going to be a time to celebrate and not to suffer in this way,” Salazar said.
“You don’t expect it to happen in your own home, in your mother’s house, where you want her to be safe and at peace. She’s 78 years old, and the last thing she needs is to go through this, unfortunately. It’s the last thing any of us want, for our elders to have to go through these bad times.”
Other Venezuelans found their homes turned to rubble in the attack. Watch our video on one family’s home here:
Venezuelans lose their homes after US strikes
US strike in Venezuela leaves homes destroyed, neighborhoods with no electricity and destruction in its aftermath.