How The Times Is Drawing on Over a Century of Reporting in Venezuela

The New York Times has been on the ground in the country since at least the 1880s, through celebration, suffering and political turmoil.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 3, Anatoly Kurmanaev, a New York Times reporter in Venezuela, messaged his colleagues that Caracas was under attack. It wasn’t yet clear what was going on, but the Times team that for the past year has been covering the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the Maduro government was hearing from its contacts that the United States was involved.

At 4:21 a.m., President Trump announced on social media that the United States had captured Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela.

“Times reporters, photographers, editors and other journalists have focused on the region for decades,” said Greg Winter, the managing editor of The Times’s International desk. “All of their experience is being brought to bear for this story.”