SAN ANTONIO DEL TÁCHIRA, Venezuela — President Nicolás Maduro has declared a state of emergency in this Venezuelan border town in what he says is nothing less than a fight for national survival. More than 1,000 Colombian immigrants have been deported and some basic guarantees, like the right to hold most public gatherings, have been suspended.

And yet Crazy Land soldiers on.

That is the name of a traveling carnival that happened to set up shop in a field just outside town a few days before the state of emergency was declared on Aug. 21. Despite the restriction on public gatherings, the park has continued to operate, its colored lights blinking cheerily every night as a few doughty souls venture out to ride the caterpillar-shaped children’s roller coaster or whirling teacups, called Crazy Dance, or try their hand at games of chance.

“The way the government is doing the state of emergency, no one understands it,” said Edward Fabelo, 35, looking out from the ticket booth over the nearly empty carnival, where a family tossed balls at a stack of cans in a vain attempt to win a SpongeBob SquarePants toy. “You’d expect to see the authorities in the streets, the liquor stores closed.” He shrugged. “They have their own way of doing things.”

To hear Mr. Maduro talk about it on television, the state of emergency is about Venezuela’s survival as a sovereign nation.