The early hours of Jan. 3 will be marked in the memories of Venezuelan residents following the operation that ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Days after the attack, Caracas residents described to the BBC what they remember from that night.
Chaos began at around 2 a.m.
One of those who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals from Venezuelan authorities, was Tomás, a resident of Fuerte Tiuna, the country's most important military complex, located southwest of Caracas.
Tomás said he was sleeping when a massive explosion got him out of bed.
"When I looked at my phone, it was 1:55 a.m. Sometimes the power goes out, but there's usually signal. This time it said 'No signal,' and the internet was down. Without a doubt, something was happening," he said.
A second explosion prompted Tomás to move toward his window, where he began recording what was unfolding in the capital.
"I carefully looked out and saw the missiles. They were like laser beams exploding on the Fuerte Tiuna mountain. At that moment, I counted about four or five impact points," he said. "Even though I suspected the United States would attack, at that moment I thought, 'Wow, it's happening. The Gringos have arrived.'"
Beyond Fuerte Tiuna, other military targets were struck, including the Cajigal Observatory, La Carlota Air Base, the Volcán transmission antennas in El Hatillo, the Bolivarian Navy Academy in La Guaira and the Higuerote Airport on the outskirts of the city.
Uncertainty at the hospital
Much like Tomás' experience, chaos engulfed the hospital where Dr. González was working at around 2:05 a.m.
As he took a brief nap during his 24-hour shift, his partner sent him messages showing what was happening across the city.
"Many thoughts went through my head. One of them was the fear of having to treat someone I knew who was injured and whose life depended on me, who would be in my hands. I didn't want to live through that," he told the BBC.
Dr. González and his colleagues began preparing operating rooms in anticipation of victims wounded by bombs or missiles.
Hours later, the hospital started receiving patients around 7 a.m., but the case that shook him the most arrived about 40 minutes later.
That patient, according to González, had been thrown by the shockwave of an explosion and dragged across the ground, suffering facial burns, a fractured jaw, a split tongue and multiple friction burns.
The patient was so covered in dirt that he could not open his eyes, and his airways were obstructed.
"I was reminded of all the times we've seen wars in the Middle East, where you see a body covered in dust and, at the same time, in blood," González said.
"At one point, I turned my back on the patient because I'm supposed to have a hardened heart, but there are moments that shake you, and this was one of them."
Collateral damage
The Jan. 3 operation left at least 100 civilians, soldiers and security officers dead. Among them was the son of Gregorio, a sergeant in the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.
The two had celebrated the New Year together hundreds of miles from Caracas, never imagining that Jan. 2 would be the last time they would see each other.
Gregorio's son was part of a combat battalion stationed at Fuerte Tiuna and was scheduled to report back on Jan. 3 after spending the holidays with his family in rural Venezuela.
After more than 12 hours without hearing from him, Gregorio contacted military sources who told him his son was no longer at Fuerte Tiuna but had been deployed to support an installation outside the complex following the Jan. 3 operation.
Still, as the BBC reported, the rumors circulating in his hometown were grim.
"A fellow soldier contacted his parents back in the village and sent word that my son had fallen," Gregorio said. "When I heard that, I went straight to talk to his father, and he told me, 'Your son fell.'"
After confirming his son had been in one of the areas bombed by the United States, Gregorio traveled to Caracas to identify the remains, still hoping it was all a misunderstanding.
"They asked me questions about his physical features, and then they made me go in to identify the body. His face was intact, as well as the upper part of his body and his legs," he said.
Like the patient treated by Dr. González, Gregorio's son bore disturbing injuries rarely seen before.
"He had shrapnel wounds from something more powerful than a bullet. It tore away a large part of his abdomen," Gregorio said.
As he spoke to the BBC, a phone call interrupted the interview. He had to leave to attend his son's funeral.
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