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 President Nicolás Maduro — that are weighing on the mind of the 49-year-old resident of Petare, Venezuela. It’s a more pressing, personal issue: how to pay the bills.
That same week in August, his mother Tita Carreño, 75, had an accident at home and fractured her left femur, leaving her son no option but to stop working and care for her.
Samuel Carreño still cannot leave the house because he has to care for his bedridden mother. Stefano Pozzebon/CNN
Samuel Carreño has taken care of his 75-year-old mother since she was injured in August. Stefano Pozzebon/CNN
The buckets Carreño uses to hold his water rations.
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