When explosions erupted by night in Venezuela's balmy capital, 21-year-old Mariana Camargo dashed through the streets of eastern Caracas. It was 2:05 in the morning, and as explosions boomed in the background, Associated Press photographer Matías Delacroix captured what would become one of the first images of the American military operation in Venezuela.
The photograph shows Camargo in a white shirt and jeans, sprinting through the street with fear and urgency on her face, a group of friends running behind her. Delacroix, who had woken to the sound of strikes, ran toward the explosions, while Camargo ran away. He later told her that her expression captured the moment best.
Days later, after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was replaced by his vice president following his capture by the Trump administration, Camargo and Delacroix met again at the same spot. Camargo recalled a woman in a truck shouting at them to run because of the bombing. The photo went viral, with Camargo's friends messaging in WhatsApp groups, turning it into memes with captions like “the gringos have arrived!”
Camargo laughed as she scrolled through the messages but admitted that seeing the videos of the explosions still brings a sense of panic. On Sunday, a day after the strikes, she contacted Delacroix on Instagram to ask for more photos. When they met on Tuesday, they parted with a hug. “Crazy things always happen to me,” she said. “Of course I end up on the street during a bombing and I go viral. It’s nuts.”
