The first difference I noticed was the FAES. Driving back into Caracas after an absence of more than eight years, a patrolling truck of masked, black-clad agents wielding their arms like warnings was a noticeable – and menacing – addition to the city’s streets.

This feared new unit – known as the Special Actions Force – did not exist when I moved to Venezuela as a correspondent in Hugo Chávez’s heyday more than a decade ago.

Security forces were always repressive: I, and most people I know, had numerous run-ins with what Venezuelans refer to as ‘ladrones con placa’ (gangsters with badges) over the years. Even on my first visit in 2004, declaring my profession as journalism on a hotel entry form led to an interrogation by intelligence agents.

But the FAES have added a new, terrifying layer of intimidation and violence. Originally created by Nicolas Maduro in 2017 to crack down on "organised crime and terrorism", they have mutated into his enforcers, crushing dissent in the poor barrios where loyalty to the Socialist government has dissolved.

Described by human rights groups as "death squads", they carried out over 200 killings in 2018, most in massacres of up to nine people at a time, according to the NGO Provea.