Maduro is gone, but his regime is intact. The circumstances tell a story | Alejandro Velasco

In the early fray of foreign interventions, evidence is largely circumstantial. But here the circumstances tell a powerful story

As late as Saturday afternoon, fires continued to smolder in parts of Caracas. Residents throughout the city, stunned and anxious, filled grocery stores and gas stations, stocking up before a future unknown. Everywhere the question hung in the air like the smoke still clouding Venezuela's capital: what next?

After months of military buildup, deadly strikes at sea and a looming ground war, the United States made good on its threats to attack Venezuela in a dramatic overnight raid that ended with Nicolas Maduro in a New York City jail cell. Yet 48 hours later, little else appeared different in Caracas: Maduro's inner circle remained in place; state institutions remained in their control; streets were calm, if tense, while authorities called on people to return to their daily lives. In other words: move along, nothing to see here.

Alejandro Velasco is an associate professor of history at New York University