PARANOID Nicolas Maduro is living like a hunted man, according to people close to his embattled regime.
The Venezuelan tyrant reportedly sleeps in a different bed each night, swaps phones constantly and has packed his personal security with Cuban operatives.
Behind the sword brandishing, stage dance moves, and belting out John Lennon songs, officials say Maduro is navigating the gravest threat of his 12-year rule.
Maduro may insist he’s in control, but everything around him suggests a man bracing for impact.
US officials say land-based counter-narcotics operations could begin “very soon.”
And Maduro’s own team acknowledges the military pressure is the most serious he has faced.
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GOING CARACAS
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His shrinking circle of loyalists is terrified, his movements have become erratic, and his reliance on Cuban minders is growing.
Tension inside the palace is so thick “you can feel it in the walls,” one source said, as US warships mass in the Caribbean and Washington expands operations against what the Trump administration calls Venezuela’s “narcoterrorist” cartel.
Seven people familiar with the dictatorship’s inner workings, all speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, described a president projecting confidence in public while quietly acting like a man preparing for a precision raid.
His precautions, which have been accelerating since September, include rotating sleeping locations “to reduce the risk of betrayal” and expanding the role of Cuban counterintelligence within Venezuela’s military.
Maduro is doubling down on theatrics to hide the fear.
He’s showing up unannounced at rallies, dancing onstage and posting slick propaganda videos.
At one event this week he declared: “Monday — party; Tuesday — party; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — double party; Saturday — triple party; Sunday — chilled party… Party for as long as the body can bear it!”
Moments later, his voice looped over the beat: “No war; peace.”
But Caracas is swirling with rumors that Maduro might bolt.
US and Venezuelan officials recently held quiet exit talks, with one option proposing a referendum in 2027 that could force him to hand power to his vice president.
A more urgent channel collapsed during a tense phone call 10 days ago with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who bluntly warned Maduro he had a narrow window to leave safely with his family.
Sources told the Miami Herald the US would guarantee safe passage for Maduro, Cilia Flores and their son only if he resigned immediately.
Caracas countered with a “Cuban model” proposal that would hand political control to the opposition while the regime kept command of the armed forces, but Washington rejected it outright.
Still, Maduro keeps up the defiant posture. Hours before Trump gathered senior officials for a high-stakes Oval Office meeting on the next phase of operations, Maduro was out dancing again.
“We have lived through 22 weeks of aggression that can be described as psychological terrorism,” he told supporters outside the Miraflores palace.
Claiming “more than 94 per cent” of Venezuelans reject US threats, he dismissed the pressure as imperial bullying.
But according to a survey released in late September by London-based Panterra, independent polling shows the opposite: 70 per cent no longer identify with chavismo, and most support US intervention.
Inside the palace, however, his reliance on Cuba is deepening.
Cuban bodyguards now form the core of his protection team, and Cuban counterintelligence officers have been embedded more heavily in the armed forces.
Former minister Andrés Izarra said: “They are in complete denial that the country hates them.”
As Washington weighs escalating its campaign, the fear gripping Venezuela is now reflected in foreign travel warnings.
On December 2, Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a stark alert, advising against all travel to Venezuela “due to the security situation.”
The embassy warned that consular support is “very limited” and urged Swedish nationals already in the country to take “special precautions,” maintain supplies, stay in contact with relatives, and register with the Swedish List for crisis alerts.