Laura Hernández

The heart of Cúcuta, a town on the border with Venezuela, where many Venezuelans have come to find work and build a new life, including Laura Hernández.

She'd moved back to Venezuela in December after many years in Colombia.

But after Nicolás Maduro was captured, she says she put out a message on WhatsApp.

Venezuela libre, free Venezuela.

She says in minutes her SIM card was blocked.

She deleted all messages.

But police arrived at her house asking for information.

She denied any knowledge.

When they left, she fled, leaving her three sons with family for now.

I tell them to say they don't know anything about me, that I left the country and they don't know where I am because I'm scared something will happen to them and there will be reprisals against them.

Why did you write Venezuela Libre?

Because it's what we all wanted, that they remove the president because we thought removing him meant Venezuela would change.

But we're returning to the past, to the same.

We couldn't independently verify Laura's story, but there are reports of similar cases.

For other Venezuelans, the winds of change are reason for hope.

With President Trump, quote, running the country and the interim government announcing it's releasing some political prisoners, they're hoping for new economic opportunities back home, too.

Little by little, at least with food and medicine, now there's everything.

Now it's possible to go back home.

I'm going to return with the help of God.

On a busy stretch of highway near the border, Marta Alarcón has built her life around helping the thousands of Venezuelans who have stopped by her stand, a haven providing food, water, medicine, and the kindness of a stranger.